You want me to Date You?
by housesbabe1
Summary: "You'll come back to work if I go on a date with you?" House asked. "Yes." Idea came to me while watching Season one episode 20, called Love Hurts... What would of happened if the date actually went well? Read and find out!
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything that belongs to House MD or Bad Hat Harry productions

Vogler was taken care of and House found himself standing in the doorway of Dr. Allison Cameron's apartment once again. He made himself do a double take at what he had just sworn that Cameron had stated to him. _'Dinner? She wants ME to take her out to dinner?'_ "You'll come back to work if I go on a date with you?"

"Yes."

He found himself taking a deep breath and looking to the floor for a moment before he looked back up at Cameron, seeing her bright hazel eyes staring back at him. "Okay, I can do that." Seeing her hold out her hand, he gently grabbed it in return and shook hands before she smiled at him and quietly shut her door, leaving House to stand there, wondering what the hell he just agreed to. _'I know what I agreed to… I want her working for me again, I don't like not having her around the hospital… but at what cost? Do I have some sort of feelings for her? Maybe… Will I admit that to anyone? Hell no.' _

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House smirked as he watched his miniature tv, his head propped up on the handle of his cane as he watched the soccer game on the tiny screen.

"So, Cameron is coming back to work for you?" Wilson asked. He sat next to his friend on the medical exam table, grabbing into House's bag of pretzels.

"Yes she is."

"How did you get her to come back?"

"Are you doing her? Who's coming back?" The man sat on House's other side asks.

Wilson snorted, before coughing a few times. "Who is this guy?" he questions.

"Patient." House answers. "He's supposed to go back to work when he's done here. I guess that I do as well." House turned toward his patient. "You don't know her."

"Did you lower her hours? Raise her pay?" the man asked.

"Wait a minute, why would Cameron come back to work for you?" Wilson questions, a pretzel waiting in his hand, halfway to his mouth. House puffed out a breath of air as he glanced over at Wilson, willing him not to speak another word, knowing that his friend would quickly hit the right track. "It's not like she came back to work here because she likes you…" Wilson tapped at his knee in thought as he looked over at House, seeing the look in his eye made Wilson widen his own eyes and stand, quickly pointing at the man in front of him. "It _is_ because she likes you!"

House's patient started to grin widely and wrapped an arm around House's shoulders, while Wilson continued to pointing at him. "You should do her." The man stated.

"Keep talking and your exam will end with a prostate exam." House replied as he looked at his patient before brushing the man's arm off of him before proceeding to turn and look at Wilson. "I agreed to take her on one date."

Wilson's eyes looked like they were going to explode from his sockets. "You what?!" he exclaimed.

"You should totally do her now!" the man exclaimed, grabbing around House's shoulders once again.

House rolled his eyes and shoved the man's arm off of his body again. He turned and pointed at his patient. "You shut up." He then turned back to face Wilson, "She's not giving me a choice." The small tv was quickly becoming forgotten as the subject had quickly turned from the game to House's deal with the young woman. Wilson looked at House as he furrowed his brow, looking more and more confused.

"She's making you do her?" the patient quickly asked.

"_Date_ her." House quickly affirmed as he rolled his eyes.

Wilson once again had a smile on his face as he leant back against the counter behind him. "The young beautiful doctor, falling for her gruff older mentor, her kind nature bringing them both closer together…"

House stood, quickly grabbing the tiny tv into his hand, his other quickly grasping for his cane before he took a few steps towards the door of the exam room. "For Christ's sake…" he sighed.

Wilson just smirked as he watched House leave the exam room before he turned to the man that had been House's patient. "You can keep the bag of pretzels," He quickly pulled out a small pad and a pen from his lab coat and wrote onto it before tearing off a sheet and handing it to him. "Here's your work note, have a nice day." He said with a smile. Getting a nod in response, he turned and left the room, heading to the nearest place he could think of to talk about House… the Dean of Medicine herself, Dr. Lisa Cuddy.

Cuddy looked up from signing off on patients charts when she heard her office door open, not expecting to see Dr. James Wilson standing in front of her desk. "What has he done now?" she huffed; expecting to hear what House had done that he shouldn't have for the third time that week.

"Well, I don't know if you would say that he has done anything… you know how Dr. Cameron quit working for him a couple of weeks ago correct?" Wilson asked as he stuffed his hands into his lab coat pockets.

"Yes…" Cuddy answered cautiously, "Do I have to get a hold of authorities?"

"No! No, nothing of that nature. Have you heard that Dr. Cameron is coming back to work for House?"

"I got her email this morning… What's this about Wilson?" She asked as she leant back in her chair, putting one hand to her temple, feeling a headache beginning to form, as was the usual when House was involved in her day.

"Apparently she only came back because she got House to agree to go on a date with him."

"A date? Greg House is going on a date with Allison Cameron so that she will continue to work for him?" Cuddy asked incredulously.

"Yep… I was just talking to House about it. If he agreed to it, he really doesn't want her to_ not_ work for him, so he likes having her around."

"Obviously. Do you think that he has feelings for her?"

"He had a good time with her about a month ago when he took her to see the monster trucks that came into town that I told him I couldn't attend. I'm glad I decided not to go now."

"Well… I guess we will see how this rides out. I hope that it goes well for them, but we know how House is."

"Yes… we know how House is for certain."

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House Chase and Foreman all stood around the white board in the diagnostics meeting room, trying to figure out why their patient had suffered a stroke.

"Well, there's ischemia on his scan, I hope that it's not permanent." Chase states as he walked over to look at the patient's CT scan more closely.

"I still cannot believe that you scared this man into having a stroke." Foreman replied as he tossed House's large tennis ball to him.

"The man isn't dead or dying, so that's good news… C'mon guys, give me something good here." He said as he turned and tossed his ball to Cameron as she walked into the room, barely managing to catch it in her hands.

Turning from looking at the CT scan to see who House had tossed the ball to, Foreman smiles wide. "Hey! What're you doing here?" he asked as he walked over to her and enveloped her in a short hug, which she quickly returned.

"I work here last I checked." She chuckled, smiling.

"In this office?" Chase asked as he walked over to also give her a hug.

Cameron smirked. "Yes in this office. House practically begged me to come back."

"I hope you took him to the cleaners." Foreman said as he watched Cameron toss House's ball back to him.

"Same salary that I was making before, nothing special… so what is we looking at here?" Cameron asked as she walked up to look at the CT scan.

"Twenty three year old male came in with grinding teeth, ended up having a stroke." House said, speaking up.

Chase moved to sit in the chair closest to him. "The man needs an MRI so we can find the cause of the ischemia."

"He can't have an MRI." Cameron said as she looked back at Chase.

"Why not?"

"Unless you want his jaw rocketing across the room, I'd advise you not to put him near an MRI."

House smirked as he swiveled the ball in his hands around, leaning more of his weight onto his left leg. "Dr. Cameron is correct. The young man has a metal plate in his jaw, major reconstruction by the looks of things which causes us to be cleverer about things. Get and angiogram to rule out vasculitis, an EMG for peripheral neuropathy, tox-screen to eliminate drugs, an echo to rule out cardiac emboli." Cameron, Chase, and Foreman all nodded in response as they proceeded to head out of the room and out into the hallway. "Oh and Cameron?" House called out.

"Yes House?" she quickly turned, her hand resting in the glass doorway.

"I'd appreciate if you would keep the terms of your new contract to yourself. We don't want everyone clamoring for the same perks that you acquired."

Cameron felt herself flush pink in embarrassment as she nodded and proceeded out into the hallway with her colleagues. _'Jesus, why did he have to announce that to the world?'_

"What perks did he give you?" Foreman asked as they continued to walk.

"Nothing that either of you would be interested in." Cameron answered as she willed herself to stop blushing; damning her stomach for feeling the massive amount of butterflies that she currently felt.

"So it isn't money, office space, parking, or insurance… anything that he could possibly offer you that we would be interested in." Chase pondered aloud.

"He agreed to go on a date with me." Cameron said, feeling a small grin begin to form on her lips.

"A date?"

Foreman grinned, "A date? A dinner and a movie, hot, naked and sweaty kind of date?" he asked.

Cameron chuckled. "He only agreed to the first two."

Chase grimaced. "But… but he's so old?!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the follows, reads and reviews! they make me happy and help me to keep writing and updating for you guys. I really hope that you like the chapter. (Disclaimer, I do not own anything House MD related)**

Cameron sighed to herself as she and the rest of the team all sat in the diagnostic's meeting room around the white board once again, trying to figure out the problem with their patient.

"Well the EMG was clean."

"Well, based on the history Foreman took it's either toxic herbs from the homeopath that he went to, spinal damage from the chiropractor, infection from the needle that the acupuncturist accidentally let sit in eye of newt, or the Shen balancer. What the hell is a 'shen' and how come it's lopsided?" House questioned as he propped his cane onto the white board.

Chase leant forward, resting his elbows on the table. "The only thing that we found was in the echo that we took, he has mitral valve prolapse."

Cameron tapped her pen against the side of her clipboard. "An aneurism caused by trauma to his jaw perhaps? He had to break it somehow."

Foreman scoffed. "What trauma? The chiropractic treatments? It's bacterial endocarditis, an infected valve which caused the stroke. We should do blood cultures to confirm."

"When I listened to Harvey's left carotid I noticed a small bruit. You could hear that if you had an aneurysm from trauma." Cameron said.

"The angiogram was clean; it would have been on there." Foreman stated.

Chase held up a finger, "Not necessarily."

House rolled his eyes and leaned over to grab his eight ball that sat on the book shelf next to him and began to shake it. "Do we go with Foreman's theory, which is at least supported by medical test results, or should we go with Cameron's theory, which is completely unsupported by medical evidence? What to do…"

Cameron sighed, "This man has broken his jaw somehow, and who knows what else he has gone through."

House looks down at his eight ball, "All signs say… Sorry, Cameron, but we are following Foreman today, start our guy on antibiotics and blood thinners."

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House sat at his desk in his office, scrolling through websites on his computer. _'Where do I take someone on a date? I haven't done this kind of thing in years.' _Soon he was finding himself looking at the website of a nice Italian restaurant, deciding to make a reservation.

"House?" Cameron called, tapping on the doorway as she stepped into the threshold of his office.

"Yes?" he asked, looking up quickly, tilting the screen away from Cameron's sight.

"Umm, well our patient has a dominatrix friend, caught her choking him in his room."

"That's entertaining; still put him on antibiotics and blood thinners."

"You still think I am wrong?"

"If he is dealing with a dominatrix I am leaning more towards your theory actually."

"Then we should schedule him for vascular surgery. Go into the carotids, find the aneurysm and repair it."

"But if Foreman is right bacterial endocarditis and we do the surgery it'll kill him. Put him on blood thinners and if he has another stroke then do the surgery."

"Alright…"

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"Patient is finished in exam room two." House stated as he placed the file onto the nurse's station desk. Glancing to his right he spotted Dr. Cuddy walking in his direction _'Great, the great dean of medicine is here to mock me'_. "Kind of busy here Cuddy."

"I heard the conditions you agreed to, getting Dr. Cameron to come back to work."

He rolled his eyes. "Business only Cuddy, want the receipt? I can be sure that you get it."

"House… It's a good thing, after what happened with your last relationship I think it's good that you're moving on from it. You can only pity yourself for so long."

"You've given me a lot to think about, thank you. If only I was more open with you." He said with a smirk as he leant against the nurse's station.

"Well there's…"

"I meant your blouse Cuddy."

"Of course you did… Just keep in mind that Cameron seems to be the only female that can put up with you. Wear that light blue shirt that you have, you look almost nice in it." She said with a smile before she walked into her office, shutting the door behind her.

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Foreman, Chase, House, and Cameron walked down the hallway, all headed towards the Diagnostics room. "The patient has weakness in his right arm and hand, he's still having mini strokes, and the blood thinners aren't making a difference." Foreman stated.

"Stop the treatment, sorry Chase; you couldn't have been more wrong." House said.

Chase rolled his eyes, "I said Cameron was more likely to be right."

House nods, "Get a hold of Main in vascular, see if his surgical dance card is free for tomorrow." He watched as Chase and Foreman walked off, seeing that Cameron decided to stay behind, he stopped walking and turned to face her. "Yes?"

"About tomorrow…"

"You couldn't keep it quiet." House interrupted.

"I didn't see any reason to stay quiet about it. Where are we going? I'd like to dress for the occasion." She said with a small smile.

House found himself fighting off a grin. "Relax, it's alright. I made a reservation for the Italian place a few streets down, Café Spoleto. As far as attire goes… spandex?"

Cameron grinned and reached out to pat House on the shoulder. "I'll figure something out to wear, don't worry."

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The team all sat back down in the diagnostics room. The patient had refused to consent to the surgery that they needed to have performed, and became a blubbering mess. Foreman looked down at his clipboard trying to figure out their options.

"We could give him antidepressants; see if it will help him change his mind about the surgery." Cameron said, throwing out a random idea.

Chase smirked as he played with a pen on the table. "I already did. Mashed them up in his applesauce, he will lighten up soon."

"Someone should just tell him to sign the consent form; it would be quicker since he _likes_ being told what to do." House said.

Cameron huffed, "That's illegal."

"I already tried anyway, it didn't work." Chase replied.

"It won't work with you telling him. Where's a good dominatrix when you need one?" House questioned a sly smile on his face.

Cameron's eyes widened. "She was barred from the hospital for her actions in his exam room."

House's smirk grew wider, into a grin. "Don't get caught."

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Bringing in the dominatrix didn't end up working for the team's patient as he had another stroke when she was talking him into signing the consent form. Cuddy deemed that the team could not do the surgery until they had permission from the next of kin as the family history that they took specified that the patient's parents were deceased. Cameron, Chase, Foreman and House walked from the elevator towards House's office.

"The patient's parents were accountants, they both lived in Market Town, and we could check the local funeral home for records." Chase mentioned as they stopped in front of the office door.

"He said they were dead… accountants, are usually pretty good with money, so how come he lives in a slum like Market Town?" House asked before entering his office. He slowly made his way to his desk and sat down as he rubbed his leg. He watched as his team followed him in his office as he pulled his Vicodin from his pocket and took a pill.

"Maybe they were bad accountants?" Cameron questioned as she sat across from House on the other side of his desk.

"Maybe he burned through their money they had after they passed." Chase guessed.

Foreman nodded, "Or maybe they cut him off when they found out about his proclivities."

House nodded as he leaned back in his chair. "That'd be my bet. Cameron, Chase go to his apartment and see if you can find his folks. Address, number, anything." He watched as Cameron stood up and left, Chase following behind her.

Foreman sighed before he looked over at House. "Can I talk to you?"

House nodded as he turned on his tv. "Sure… shoot."

"About this date… Cameron is a friend…"

House quickly shut his tv back off with a loud sigh. "Really, you too?"

"Hey, I've been through this more than you as of recently."

"I'm way ahead of you. I've got a case of malt liquor stashed in my trunk, Mr. Marvin Gaye on the CD player at home, we are gonna get _all_ the way down. Now move out of the way." House grumbled as he watched Foreman move to sit on his tv.

"C'mon House, you're not really into her. Most men that aren't into someone sugar coat things… be nice to her."

House smirked. "Oh, you know me all too well Foreman."

"That's what I am saying, just be yourself and be a jerk on your date."

"You're making me miss my soap for this?"

"Women love to be right about things, feel above us men. If you act nice, she'll just blam herself for it."

"Then she'll fall for me even more. Love Doctor has made an art of breaking up with women. You're just convinced that the loss would be too devastating for any woman to handle."

"I'm just saying that some relationships aren't meant to be House. I'm not the one with the huge ego here."

**The next chapter should include the date! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as I worked hard on it. Thank you ahead of time for your reads, follows, and reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter three! I hope that you guys are enjoying this story... please follow and review!

When Cameron and Chase went to the patient's apartment they found a few things. One, that their patient was into BDSM and two that he had a large stash of breath-mints on hand in a drawer. Cameron ended up finding a class yearbook with contacts in it and brought it to the hospital. The team currently all sat around the large table in the diagnostics room calling the various phone numbers that they had found, hoping to find any family related to Max.

"Max… yes… Alright, I'm sorry to bother you." Cameron said with a sigh before she hung up her phone.

Chase quickly shot up his arm, "Yes, Max Parker. Great, we've been looking for you! I'm calling from the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Max a patient, and it's rather… He hung up on me."

"Did you tell them why you were calling them?" Foreman asked.

"I didn't even get the chance to."

"Then call them back."

House walked into the room from his office. "I'll do it." He said as he tossed his yo-yo at Chase and grabbed the nearest phone. "Hello, yes this is Doctor House, your son Max has passed away… yes, Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital." House nodded then hung up the phone. "There, now when they show up at the morgue, just send them up here instead."

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It wasn't until the next day that House was called into Cuddy's office. He currently stood across from a pair of very angry parents.

"You lied to them?!" Cuddy exclaimed.

Mrs. Parker nodded, "He told us that our son was dead."

House sighed as he leant heavily on his cane. "I was a white lie. Technically, all I did was call them a little early. Trust me, he'll be dead soon. Actually, If anything I saved you from being stuck in rush hour traffic."

Mrs. Parker narrowed her eyes at Dr. House before she grabbed for her phone in her purse. "I'm contacting our lawyer."

"Fine, just sign the consent form before you do, I even have a pen to make things quicker." House said, as he held a pen towards Mrs. Parker.

Cuddy sighed. "I'm sure that you still care about him. He is your son after all."

Mr. Parker huffed and crossed his arms as he leaned back on the couch that they sat on. "He has humiliated us and our family. Everyone knows about his perversion."

House nodded. "But you don't get off on embarrassment the way your son does." He crossed his arms over his chest, moving most of his weight to his right leg. "Before you haggle with your lawyer, put this into perspective. Humiliation comes in all kinds of packages. People finding out that your son's a perv, that's pretty high up there. People finding out that you'd rather let your son _die_ than sign a piece of paper, where's that rank at? Your son would be in surgery first thing in the morning."

Mr. and Mrs. Parker glanced at each other before Mr. Parker relented and nodded. House nodded in return and put his arms back down, to lean on his cane once more and hand the pen to Mrs. Parker while Cuddy supplied the paper for them to sign. Once the form was signed, House walked to Cuddy's office door and opened it before he turned to face the couple once more. "You can visit him after the surgery is done." He said, and then walked out.

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Cameron smiled to herself as she sat at House's desk, going through his mail. _'I really do wonder what he hill have planned for our date. I'm still stunned that he even agreed to go on a date with me in the first place. Does that mean he's interested?' _She was so engrossed in her thoughts and going through the mail that she didn't notice that Wilson had stepped into the office until he knocked lightly on the desk. She jumped before she looked up at him. "Oh, hey Wilson, how're you today?"

"I'm alright." He answered, before he sat in the chair across from the desk. "Do you mind if we talk?"

"You too?" she questioned as she leant back in her chair. "Let me guess, you're worried that he will break my heart too."

"I honestly don't want either of you to get hurt by doing this."

"I will be fine Wilson, I am sure he will be too. Everyone seems to believe that I'm going out with Freddy Kruger or something."

"Actually it's not you that I'm worried about, I'm sure that you will be alright. It's him… his last relationship ended horribly. I just want to be sure that you want this because if he lets someone else in and opens up and something happens, I'm not sure he will come back from it, or that I could piece him back together again."

Allison sighed and leant forward, placing her elbows on the desk. "Wilson, I am wanting this. I do like him and I am very interested in him. But I'm not so sure that he's interested in me."

Wilson chuckled. "Oh he's interested in you; otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to go on a date with you at all and would have bargained for something else to get you to come back to work here. Or he would have just said no and left. He likes you and likes having you around." At this announcement, Allison smiled and flushed a light pink as she looked down. "Don't worry Allison, just be yourself tonight okay?"

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Later that night House sighed as he stood in front of his bedroom mirror, trying to adjust the tie that he was desperately trying to tie correctly. Disgruntled, he turned and walked into his living room and faced Wilson, who was sitting on is couch. "Does this look alright?"

"The wide side is too short… why don't you forego the tie?" He watched as House nodded and pulled the tie loose before removing it from his neck. "Better." He said with a smile. "Now you look more like yourself, which is a good thing."

"Is this really a good idea?" House asked.

"Just be yourself, compliment how she's dressed, open the door for her at the restaurant, and help her sit in her chair…"

"I know how a date goes Wilson; I have been on one before."

"Not for a long time, and you know that."

House leant against the door frame that led to his kitchen. "I don't know about all this casual conversation shit Wilson… maybe I should just cancel, I do have a patient that will be going into surgery tomorrow morning."

"If you were the surgeon doing that surgery then it would matter, as you are not, don't worry about it. Compliment on what she's wearing, ask her how her day was, and ask her about her family, her aspirations in life, what she'd like to do next in her medical career. Trust me, you'll be fine." Wilson leaned forward when he noticed House had moved and was headed towards his fridge. "Getting a beer before you leave? Some liquid courage?"

"No, no beer." He answered as he opened the fridge and retrieved the small item within before he closed it back. "Do you think this is lame?" he asked as he turned to show Wilson a white rose corsage in a small plastic container.

Wilson couldn't hide the wide grin that formed on his face. "I think that she will like lame House."

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House smiled as he knocked on Cameron's apartment door. He was met by Allison dressed in a black swoop neck t shirt and matching knee length skirt, her hair curled and flowed over her shoulders as she smiled back at him. "I was almost thinking that you weren't going to show up." She said.

"I almost didn't." He answered honestly. Upon seeing a sudden disappointed look on her face, he quickly reached into the pocket of his jacket. "I have something for you."

"You didn't have to get me anything."

"I know." He said. He gently removed the clear packaging from his pocket, producing the white rose corsage for her to see. At seeing it, Cameron's eyes lit up and a smile came to her face.

"House… It's beautiful."

"May I?"

Cameron nodded and watched as House removed the flower from its package and gently clip it to Cameron's shirt, a small grin coming to his face. "It really is beautiful House."

House nodded and took a step away from Cameron, leaning against his cane for a moment. "We um…" He paused, clearing his throat. "We ought to get moving, our reservation is at eight." At Cameron's nod, he helped her put on a jacket and they both left her apartment and went to the Italian restaurant that House had made the reservation for them to eat at.

Once they arrived, they were quickly shown to their table and House pulled out Cameron's chair for her to sit before he sat across from her in his own chair. House took a quiet deep breath as he looked down at the menu that was offered to him. _'This is not my area… I do not feel like I should be here.' _ He glanced up at Cameron and saw that she seemed relaxed and casual as she took a sip of the water and looked at her own menu. "I like your earrings."

"Thank you. They were my mom's." She answered with a smile.

"Your shirt is nice, the color suits you." House said

Cameron smirked and leaned back in her chair. "House, I'm not asking you to be someone that you're not. Don't change yourself just because you agreed to take me out."

"Were in a restaurant, all pressed and dressed… who am I supposed to be? You cannot honestly be interested in me for me. You're interested because I am a damaged person."

Cameron sighed, "House… I am interested in you because you are an amazing doctor. You fight for what you believe in and have a very small circle of people that you care about. You can be an asshole…" She said with a small chuckle, "But I am interested in you because you are you… listen, after we eat why don't we get out of here and go for a walk. Or would you rather we left now?"

House looked down at his menu again and puffed out a breath of air. "I made the reservation, we will eat. After that, I will see what you have in mind, you have interested me… for now." He said with a smirk.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well without further ado! **

House and Cameron enjoyed their meals in almost complete silence. Cameron glanced up at the man in front of her and could see that he was getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute. His shoulders were drawn together, even though he sat up straight and tall, his eyebrows stayed furrowed, his mind anywhere but where he sat. When she spotted a nearby waiter she quietly got their attention and discreetly paid their check without House noticing that she had done so. When she received her debit card back, she cleared her throat gently before speaking, "House? Are you finished eating?"

"I think so, I am not that hungry tonight." He answered as he looked down at his half eaten plate of pasta.

"Then let's get out of here, we can go for a walk… I know of a place that's about a block down the street that is right up your alley."

"You do now do you?" he said as one of his eyebrows raised in question.

"Yes… Now get your cane, and c'mon." Cameron said with a grin as she stood. She watched him get to his feet and lean on his cane for a few moments before he reached into the pocket of his grey slacks for his wallet and left a ten dollar tip on the table. '_He's stiff from sitting still too long._' She thought to herself.

"Don't think that I didn't notice that you paid for dinner… "He said with an almost sly smile on his face as they walked out of the restaurant and out onto the street. "I'll pay you back when I have the cash."

"No you won't… I don't mind to pay." She said as they began their walk along the sidewalk.

"Now why do I not believe that?"

"What? Just because I'm a woman I should be angry about paying for dinner?"

"Aren't all women like that?" he questioned as they walked along. A small smirk appeared on his face.

"Well, I'm not all women House. I do not mind paying for things for others when it is warranted to do so."

Cameron smiled to herself when her comment quieted House's rambling as they continued to walk. It wasn't too long before Cameron Stopped and looked up at the large red letters of the sign of the store they had arrived at. "Here we are."

"Half Price Books?" House questioned as he looked up as well. "You brought me to a thrift store?"

"Just trust me House, this place will be your candy land." She said as she took a couple steps forward and opened the door to walk in. She held it open for House to walk in behind her, and didn't miss that he rolled his eyes at her for doing the small gesture. It was all worth it though to see his face as he looked around the large store, especially when he eyed the large area for vinyl records. She followed behind him, letting him explore at his own pace.

"Alright… you got me." House chuckled as he propped his cane against the large container that held the records and began to file through them, searching for anything that would catch his eyes.

Cameron answered with a chuckle of her own. "I thought I would. I love this place myself, I always end up spending way more than I should when I'm in here."

"What all do they sell here, besides the obvious?"

"Quite a bit… Movies, board games, consoles, video games, cds, records, small electronics like tablets, comic books and graphic novels, and of course books. You can even sell old books and stuff you no longer want to keep."

House nodded. "I will look at the video games before we leave here."

"I figured that you would. You may find some new games for that Gameboy for yourself." She said. "I'm going to go look through the movies alright, will you be okay?"

"No Cameron, I'm just lost without you." House replied, and chanced a glance in her direction only to see her roll her eyes at him with a smile on her face before she walked off.

Once she was out of sight of House and looking through the many titles of movies in their shelves did she expel the breath that she had been holding. _'He has no damn clue how what he just said effected me_.'

It was about fifteen minutes later when Cameron arrived back at the records section of the store with a few dvds in her hands that she found that House was not where she last left him. "Great… where did he wander off to?" she asked herself aloud. She slowly walked down the aisle ways in search of her gruff boss. _'He's not in the main fiction section of the books or in the movie section… which leaves…_' She smirked when she found him, sitting on the floor, his cane resting beside him along with a small stack of records as he looked through the shelf of video games he sat in front of. "Finding anything you like?" she asked quietly. She didn't want to startle him in the overly quiet store.

"I have a feeling that I will be coming back to this store on a routine basis." He stated as he looked up at Cameron.

"I'm glad you like it." It was then when Cameron noticed a young man was standing on the other side of House, a sheepish look on his face.

"I'm sorry you guys, but we are fixing to close, I can take your purchases that you have picked out, we open back up at eight tomorrow morning."

Cameron nodded. "It's alright; we will meet you at the register." She said as she walked up to stand in front of House and offered her hand out to him, to help him stand.

House stared at her hand for a few moments, unsure if he should take her offered help before he slowly put his hand in hers and watched as she braced her weight and helped him up to his feet. "Thank you." He mumbled.

Cameron smiled as she leant down and grabbed House's cane and quickly handed it to him before she bent down and grabbed the small stack of records. "Was there a game that had you interested? I can grab it real quick."

"The Monster Jam one and the Metroid game." He quickly answered and watched as she quickly pulled them out of their place on the shelf before she righted herself.

"Will these work for your Gameboy?" she asked.

House quickly nodded as he walked towards the cashier counter, knowing that she was right behind him. Once they were at the counter he watched as Cameron placed all of his items down and the young man began to ring things up for him. House half turned and held his hand out to Cameron.

"What?" she asked.

"Your movies."

"House…"

"Cameron, just give them here." He stated and let himself grin as she did so reluctantly and put them on top of the game cases along with the rest of his items. The young man quickly found the disks and games and put them in their respective cases before he rung everything up and told House the total amount of payment, in which House removed his wallet and quickly paid with his card. Once everything was bagged up House and Cameron left the store so the young man could close up and they began their walk back to House's car.

"Thank you." Cameron said.

"You paid for dinner; I figured I could repay the gesture."

Cameron nodded as they continued to walk. She clutched her thin jacket around her arms in the chilly night air. "Not as bad as you thought it would be was it?" she asked as she glanced over at the man by her side.

House chuckled and shook his head. "You got me Ms. Cameron… this time."

"This time?"

"Well… I expect there will be another time that we will be out and about like tonight."

Cameron couldn't help the grin that quickly appeared on her face. "I'm glad."

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It took them almost an hour for them to arrive back at Cameron's apartment door. House had insisted that they stop for something sweet and had ended up at a little diner to share a large brownie with ice cream and fudge. House leant against the door frame as Cameron unlocked her door and took a couple of steps inside before turning around to face him, her small bag of movies in one hand. "Would you like to come in?" she quietly asked.

House shook his head. "It's getting late and we both have to work in the morning." He answered, in the same quiet manner. "I did have a good time tonight though."

"I did too." She answered, a small grin appearing on her face. '_Should I just say goodnight and see you tomorrow? Should I give him a goodnight kiss?_'

House watched her for a few moments, seeing apprehension in her eyes. He slowly moved himself to stand upright and propped his cane against the wall before he took a couple steps to become almost flush with Cameron as he looked down at her, locked on her hazel eyes. He slowly bent down and brushed his lips against her cheek. "Good night Allison." He whispered, his breath brushing against her cheek and ear. He grinned at her shocked expression when he leant back to stand normally again. "I'll see you in the morning alright?" He watched her recover and smile up at him.

"Alright, good night Greg." She watched as he grinned at her before he took the two steps back out into the hallway and retrieved his cane before he walked away and down the hallway, towards the elevator. Cameron quietly shut her apartment door before turning around and leant against it. "Holy Shit…" she exhaled aloud to herself before a wide smile came to her face and she brushed her cheek with her hand. '_Tomorrow is going to be eventful_.'


	5. Chapter 5

**You guys should feel lucky! Once I finished the last chapter I just couldn't stop writing so I went ahead and wrote this one as well. I hope you guys are loving this story as much as I am writing it. Please like, follow, and review!**

The next morning the surgery for Max was taking place as planned. Foreman and Chase stood in the observatory, overseeing the surgery, making sure everything was going as it should be. Cameron came in the room and nodded to her colleagues as she shut the door behind her. "How is the surgery going?" she asked.

Foreman smirked before he turned from watching the surgery to look at Cameron. "You're coming in late… last night go well?"

Cameron withheld the need to roll her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. '_The need for gossip is strong this morning_.' She thought. "You didn't answer me, how is the surgery going?"

Chase chuckled. "Max is doing fine, the surgery is routine so far… now you answer. How did it go?"

Cameron did her best to withhold a smile but it came to her face anyway. "It was nice actually… how was your evening?"

Chase raised an eyebrow. "So you are saying the date actually went well?"

"Yes… it did."

Chase and Foreman looked at each other before Chase shrugged his shoulders and they all continued to watch Max's surgery.

Meanwhile House sat at his desk that adjoined the diagnostics meeting room and rolled his eyes as Wilson walked through his door. He paused his game on his Gameboy and sighed as Wilson took his seat across from the desk. "What?" he griped.

"How did it go?" Wilson asked as he leant back in the chair, moving to rest one of his feet on his opposite knee.

"She had fettucine and I had the marinara pesto…"

"Yes, I really want to know what you ate… something good or something bad happened last night, which one was it?" he questioned as he raised one of his eyebrows at his best friend.

"Well I did have indigestion…" House started with a smirk, but he could tell that Wilson wasn't having any of it. He sighed. "Fine… it started off being pretty bad, but Cameron actually saved the night, it was pretty nice."

Wilson grinned wide. "Will you go out again?" Seeing House's grin, Wilson already knew the answer before he spoke.

"We will. I'm not quite sure when yet, but she has me interested."

Wilson chuckled and grabbed for House's tennis ball. "I thought she would. I knew that you liked her, you just have to relax."

Back in the surgery observatory Chase and Foreman continued to grill Cameron on her and House's date. "So what was so nice about it?" Foreman asked.

"We… talked, it started out tense but he was a lot better when we left the restaurant."

Chase furrowed his eyebrows. "Left the restaurant?"

"Don't even start, it wasn't anything like that. I took him to Half Price Books."

"That broke the ice?" Foreman asked.

Cameron only nodded. "I'm not telling you guys every detail of my dating life."

Chase fully turned to face her and pointed at her. "Dating life? So you _are_ going to see him again!"

Cameron chuckled. "I assume so Chase, yes, I will be seeing House again."

Back in House's office Wilson was almost bug eyed as he stared dumbfoundedly at his friend. "You kissed her cheek?!" he exclaimed.

House shrugged as he played with a pen that sat on his desk. He didn't like the sudden attention. "We actually had a good night; I wanted to leave it on a good note."

Wilson grinned and stood up. "Alright, I'll leave you alone. I can see you're on edge about it… just try to relax." At House's nod in reply, he turned and left his office, heading towards his own.

The intercom turned on in the surgery observatory, "You guys were wrong. There is no aneurysm, nothing, this guy is clean as can be." The surgeon spoke up.

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The team and House all sat in the diagnostics room around the white board again, trying to find out what Max's condition could possibly be that was causing all of his problems.

"The surgeon didn't find any aneurysms, so we have no clue what is causing Max's strokes." Chase said with an audible sigh.

"He's had two more since post-op, We won't know the extent of the damage until he comes out of the coma; Even if he comes out of it." Foreman added.

Cameron tapped the surface of the table. "Maybe we should put him back on the blood thinners and up the dosage."

"If there aren't any clots, a large dose of blood thinners will make him bleed out of his ears." House stated as he leaned against his cane. "Then he won't be able to hear." He added sarcastically. He looked over the white board once more and sighed. "Chase, Foreman, get another angiogram and echo. Better get a full-body scan while you're at it. If it is actually clots, it'd be good to know where they are." He watched as the two men of his team grabbed their clipboards and left the room, which left him and Cameron alone. He sat down in the seat opposite from her and released the tension in his thigh from standing.

"Hurting?" Cameron asked.

"A bit." He answered calmly as he took his pill bottle from his pant pocket and opened it before he popped a single Vicodin into his mouth and capped the bottle back, then returned it to his pocket. He looked over at Cameron to see that she was filing through his mail as usual. "Are you free tonight?" he asked.

She stopped in the middle of putting an envelope into her junk mail pile and looked up at House, meeting his blue eyes. "To-tonight?" she asked. He had caught her off guard and she knew he was enjoying it when he smirked blatantly at her.

"No, next week Cameron; Yes, tonight… could have a night in?" he said, hiding a chuckle as best as he could.

"Umm, sure. I'm free, we could get take out and watch a movie?"

House nodded. "Sounds good… mine or yours?"

"If you come to mine it wouldn't have to be take out." She mentioned as she finally placed the envelope in the pile and resumed her task of sorting through mail.

"I'm not going to pass up a home cooked meal."

Cameron chuckled. "Sounds good to me then, meet me at my place after work then. It's a Friday too, my day off is tomorrow as is yours."

House nodded before he gingerly stood. "It's settled." He said with a small grin. "I'm going to go and check on the rest of the ducklings, see how those tests are going." At Cameron's nod, he left the room. It didn't take long for House find at least one of his 'ducklings' as he spotted Chase walking towards the lab, popping tic tacs in his mouth, giving House an idea. "Chase!" he called as he caught up with the young man.

"What?" Chase asked, turning to face his boss.

"You've been popping those mints for the past two days… find a new fetish?"

"I found them at Max's house; I only took a couple of packs. The man has a whole drawer full of the things."

"You didn't think that was odd at all?"

"There were a lot of odd things at his place; the mints weren't really high up on the list of what we found."

"You would be wrong." House quickly turned around and headed towards Max's room, Chase quickly following behind him, soon added by Foreman, then Cameron as they all stood in their patient's room. House walked up to Max and opened his mouth. "Chase, bring me your nose."

"If you're trying to embarrass me I told you…"

"Chase, just come here and smell the man's mouth." He watched as Chase stepped forward and took a sniff before showing a disgusted look upon his face. "Pretty ripe in there hm?" he asked.

"It smells like old vomit in there." He answered grimly, his face still contorted.

"That would be the number one sign of fulminating osteomyelitis." House confirmed with a nod.

"Infection of the jaw?" Foreman questioned.

House nodded again. "Probably from the original break; never healed properly infected tissue from the jaw breaks off, blocks blood flow to the brain, and life just isn't worth living without blood." He stated simply.

"The infection has been hiding behind the metal plate in his jaw this whole time." Cameron said.

"Right again." House answered.

"An infection in the jaw isn't likely to show up on the blood tests, that's why we never saw it in anything that we did." Chase stated.

"How do we confirm it then?" Foreman asked.

House picks up an empty syringe from a cart in the room. "Like this." He stuck the syringe in Max's jaw and pulled back on the plunger, revealing a white matter within the syringe. "Ladies and germs, we have pus." He handed the syringe to Chase, and took the tic-tac container from him and popped a couple in his mouth. "We're gonna remove his jaw, call a surgeon and get him scheduled."

The team was lucky to get Max in for surgery later that afternoon. When the surgery was finished, House walked into Max's room to check on him and found his female friend to be sitting beside him. "Julie is it?" House asked.

"Yes… I'm sorry, I know that I'm not supposed to be here, I just wanted to see him."

"No, it's alright. I need to speak with both of you anyhow. You need to stop the strangulation fetish. If you keep it up it will kill him. He can be a freak in a different way."

Julie shook her head. "He isn't a freak." She said sternly.

"Actually he is… just a bit. But if you keep it up, it _will_ kill him."

"It's not about the pain. It's about being open and completely vulnerable to another person. If you can learn to be that deeply trusting… it changes you." Julie said.

House nodded as he placed his hand on the sliding door of his room. "Then lock him in a cage or something. That's safer medically." He then turned and left the room, making sure to shut the sliding glass door behind him. He meandered his way back to his office and retrieved his coat for the night and turned off the lights, cane in hand. When he turned to leave, Wilson stood at the doorway.

"Headed out? Your case is solved and treated I heard." he asked.

"Yep." He answered as he shrugged his coat on.

"Do you wanna hang out tonight? Maybe watch the game?"

"Sorry Jimmy, I cannot. I have a date."

"What?" Wilson grinned as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He watched as House came towards him and he backed out of his way before following him down the hallway towards the elevators.

"You heard me." House said gruffly. "I have a date."


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's another chapter for you guys! please let me know what you think of this story. I know that this chapter makes House a bit ooc but I feel he would be trying to show his 'human' side a bit...**

**please review!**

House arrived at Cameron's apartment at just past six in the afternoon. He had stopped off at his own apartment to change shirts, currently in a grey button down shirt and jeans, and had stopped at a local store and bought a bottle of simple blackberry wine. He didn't want to arrive empty handed even though she had offered to cook dinner. He sighed as he stared at her apartment door, wondering if this was the right thing to do even though he had been the one to ask to see her again this time. Before he could change his mind, he lifted his cane with his left hand and knocked on the door.

Cameron had been chopping carrots when she heard the knock at her door. "Coming!" she called as she wiped her hands on her apron and walked to the door. She opened her door and smiled at seeing House standing there. "Hi… C'mon in." she said as she backed out of his way, so he could come into the apartment.

House nodded in reply as he watched Cameron shut her door back and automatically lock the bottom lock on the door. "I brought a bottle of wine."

"You didn't have to do that." Cameron said as she turned to face him again, gently taking the bottle that he was offering out to her.

"I didn't want to not bring anything. I know you offered to cook…"

Cameron smiled. "House, it's alright. Thank you." She turned and walked back towards the kitchen to continue cooking. Hearing the telltale thump of House's cane let her know that he was following just behind her. "I'm making beef stew, I hope that's alright."

"It smells good; should be just fine." House answered as he walked over to her kitchen table and pulled out a chair for him to sit down. He leaned back in the seat as he watched Cameron continue to chop carrots at the counter. '_What now? Small talk?_'

While Cameron was cutting up the carrots a sudden thought came to her mind. "Are you allergic to anything? I normally add in carrots, onions, celery, and peas. The potatoes are already cooking with the broth and beef in the pot."

"Nope… I don't like mushrooms most of the time, but it sounds like you aren't going to add them."

"You are safe from mushrooms for tonight." She said with a grin as she carried her pile of carrots into the large pot on the stove. She glanced back to see him watching her cook, twirling his cane with one hand. "Do you want to listen to music or anything? You can make yourself at home here." '_Please don't close up on me now House… you can relax with me._' "Or you could help me cook?"

"I'm afraid if I help you cook you'll be calling the fire department."

"You can't be that bad." She said with a giggle.

"I burn most anything I try to fix."

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Come here, you can at least cut up the celery for me while I chop the onions and open the wine." She watched as he reluctantly stood and limped over to where she stood, leaving his cane behind. She handed him the knife that she held before she walked over to the fridge and removed the celery and returned to stand beside him. "I already rinsed it and pulled it apart, it just needs cut in small pieces to add to the stew." At hearing him sigh, she chuckled and returned to the fridge to grab the green onions, and turned to open a drawer and retrieve her bottle opener for the wine.

House quickly removed the celery from the plastic bag that it had been stored in and started chopping the veggie with quick precision. At hearing music begin to play, he paused in his movements and looked over at Cameron. "Decide it was too quiet?"

"I normally listen to music when I cook; it is normally just me here after all."

"You normally listen to instrumental music?" House questioned as he raised an eyebrow at her. At seeing a flush come to her cheeks, he knew that he had caught her.

"I listen to a lot of genres, but I know you like instrumental so I put it on a random playlist." She admitted.

House chuckled and nodded towards the bottle opened in her hand. "Do you need a hand opening the wine?"

"I should be able to get it; after I open it I'll sit it in some ice."

"Getting fancy on me?" House asked as he turned to add the celery in the pot. "Give me the onions."

She gave them to him without complaint and watched as he removed them from the plastic bag and rinsed them under the sink. "You act like you have done this before."

"I have helped out around the kitchen more than a few times in my life."

"Yet you say you can't cook… isn't that what you're doing?" she chuckled as she twisted the bottle opener into the cork of the wine bottle.

"I tend to burn anything that is fixed in a skillet. I participate in surgeries; I think chopping vegetables is considered child's play."

"Okay, I'll give the brilliant Doctor House that one." She said with a smirk.

"Don't you forget it either."

Cameron chuckled and attempted to pull the cork from the bottle, the cork only making it halfway from its original location. She huffed and pulled back on the bottle opener once more only for it to slip partially from her hand, almost dropping the bottle onto the linoleum floor.

House sighed and put the knife down that he had been about to use for the onions and took the wine bottle from Cameron's hands. "Stop before you hurt yourself. You chop onions, I'll do this." He said, hiding a grin.

Cameron crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against her counter. "I almost had it thank you." She griped.

"Oh sure, you almost had a bottle land on the floor that would have probably cut you and stained everything in the vicinity purple." House Smirked and shook his head as he tilted the bottle opener side to side, gently removing the cork from the bottle without any problem. "That's how it's done."

"Fine… I'll finish these onions, and then we can go and sit in the living room for a little while so the stew can finish cooking." She began to make quick work of the green onions and began to add them to the large pot, watching House out of the corner of her eye as he grabbed a deep bowl and grabbed ice from her freezer to put within it and proceeded to place the wine in the bowl so it could chill. She fought a grin as she noticed him lean against the counter beside her. "How did you know that blackberry was my favorite wine?"

"You're a girl… don't all girls like fruity things?" He asked, turning his head to watch her as she picked up the last of the green onion that she had chopped and added it to the pot before she placed a clear lid on top of the pot.

Cameron smirked as she looked over at him. "You've never seen me drink whiskey." She then turned away to throw away the green pieces that she didn't use into the nearby trash can.

"You… a tiny little thing like you likes whiskey?" He asked, astonished. "But you're so petite and girly." This got a laugh out of Cameron as she turned and walked back up to face House, her body close enough for him to grab her and bring her to him if he wanted to. He watched a smile appear on her face as she leant close enough to him to where he could feel her breath brush across his lips.

"You have no idea what I am capable of."

When Cameron stepped away from House to grab wine glasses from the cabinet he quietly let out a breath of air that he hadn't realized he was holding in. '_What does this woman do to me?_' He questioned himself as he looked towards the floor for a moment before bring his eyes back up to see Cameron pouring two glasses of wine. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable in more ways than one, House stood away from the counter and limped the few steps to where he had left his cane and grabbed it before he silently made his way into the living room to sit on the couch, finding that he had to adjust himself before he could sit comfortably.

'_Was it something I said?_' She thought when she noticed he was gone. "House?" She called, not getting a response. Cameron turned the heat down on the stew pot and set a timer before she made her way into the living room, seeing he was seated on the couch she walked over and placed the wine glasses on her coffee table and sat beside him. "Greg?" she asked her voice now quiet. "Did I say something wrong?"

He wanted to answer her, but when he reached for something to say, nothing would come out of his mouth. He turned to look at her, easily finding her hazel eyes. He could see the worry in them, the concern that she had done something wrong, was too forward in what she had done mere minutes prior. He ended up settling for shaking his head 'no' and reached forward to grab one of the wine glasses on the coffee table and taking a sip from it.

"Greg… please talk to me." She whispered as she dared to place a hand on his knee. He didn't shy away or move away from her touch, so she considered that as a good thing. '_C'mon Greg, don't shut me out_.'

"You didn't do anything wrong Allison." He said finally. He wouldn't look up from the wine glass that he held, and ended up downing what was in the glass and putting it back on the coffee table. The atmosphere had drastically changed from calm and relaxing to stressful and intense. "I'm sure you know my story, I assume that you have heard it around the hospital."

"I know how you became disabled… I know that your ex was someone that should have never done what she did. But if she didn't, you wouldn't be sitting here with me right now." House nodded in reply, which caused Cameron to sigh quietly. "I'm not going to push you into doing something that you don't want to do. I apologize for being so forward okay?"

House rolled his eyes and leaned back against the cushions of the couch. "Allison, stop." He said firmly, which caused her to quickly recoil her hand from his knee and shrink into herself. "You don't need to constantly apologize for things… This is what I mean by girly, I hope you know." He said with a smirk before he looked back over to reconnect with her eyes. "Listen… this isn't easy. I want to fight it and push myself away but I am too interested to do so. Just bear with me… can you do that?"

Cameron stared at him, amazed that he was actually opening up to her, even if it was just a little bit, knowing he was used to bottling things up and hiding what he felt. There were only three people that could tell what he actually felt that he tried to hide; Wilson, Cuddy, and herself. She ended up letting herself smile at him when he reached out to her and intertwined his hand with the one that had rested on his knee. "Of course."


	7. Chapter 7

The dinner at Cameron's home ended up ending on a good note with good food and relaxing company. House found himself thinking back on that day as he sat in Cuddy's office, sitting in the chair across from her desk with his arms across his chest, brooding.

"House, I don't want to hear another word about this. I know it is Stacy but her husband is suffering abdominal pain and fainting spells. No sign of tumors, no vasculitis." Cuddy said with a sigh as she closed her laptop shut.

"Why does it have to be me that treats him? Isn't there another hospital?"

"I can see you're interested in the case House. He's been to three different hospitals and seen five different doctors already." She watched House sigh and look down at his cane as he decided to play with it. "I'll give you a week off clinic duty if you just take the damn case."

"Even if that is tempting, when you first handed me the case on Monday he cancelled his exam twice. What makes you think that he will be willingly treated by me?"

"I pulled some strings, are you happy? Just get up to your team while he's looked over in his exam room." Cuddy stated as she stood.

"Three weeks off clinic duty then."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Fine… just go do your job."

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House walks into the diagnostics room and saw that all of his team was present. Cameron stood by the white board while Chase and Foreman sat at the table. "Did any of you get the file for the case?" he asked.

Foreman nodded as Cameron moved to sit down and House took her place beside the white board. "Past tests revealed nothing that would cause abdominal pain or the mood swings."

House grinned. "Then we're done! What do you think ball game or the zoo? I don't care; I just want to hang with you guys."

Chase rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't we do more testing? I assume that you don't believe that the other doctors tested for everything."

House sighed. "I guess." He drawled, "The wife of this guy believes that he's sick."

"The woman you used to live with?" Cameron questioned; which caused House's eyes to land on hers and stay there.

"Stacy… and yes." House replied. "Go ultrasound his belly. If that's negative, CT his abdomen and pelvis, with and without contrast… and whatever else you can think of that should be done." House watched as Foreman and Chase left the room before he walked into his office. It wasn't long before he heard the predictable tiny knock that he was expecting. "Yes Cameron?" he asked as he turned to face her.

"Are you okay? Having to treat him knowing that she's here..."

House took a deep breath before he held out his hand and Cameron took the steps it took to take his hand with her own. He gave her hand a small squeeze. "I'll be fine."

Cameron nodded. "Just know that I'm here okay?" she asked softly. At his nod she squeezed his hand in return before she slowly let go and turned to walk out into the hallway and catch up with the rest of the team.

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Chase walked into Mark's hospital room with a clipboard in his hand. He nodded to both Mark and Stacy and cleared his throat, "We did a CT on your abdomen. There's nothing that would explain the stomach pain that you're having."

Stacy nodded as she scooted her chair closer to Mark's bed. "So what do we do next?" she asked.

Mark rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving. How many more tests do they have to do on me for you to be convinced that I'm fine?" he questioned as he looked between Chase and Stacy.

Stacy's mouth formed into a hard line. "Only one."

"House." Mark said matter of factly. He sighed when Stacy nodded in response.

Chase nodded, "I promise that we will do our best to find out what is bothering you." He then turned and left the room to meet back up with the rest of the team.

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Cameron and Chase all walked down the hallway, headed back towards the diagnostics room. "The MRAs were clean, which means he's probably fine. He doesn't seem paranoid; he shows no signs of…" Cameron started, but was cut off by House as he walked up to the group.

"Nope, don't even. That just means we have no clue what's wrong with him."

The team all turned when Foreman walked up to the group. "I just got off the phone with Meyer, his schedule is completely booked, and we can't get him in until tomorrow."

House quickly shook his head. "No, not good enough, it needs to be today. Call him back, tell him that I can make it work."

"You're doing surgery? He doesn't even think that he's sick. Why would he consent to having an exploratory surgery?" Cameron said, flabbergasted.

"His wife is a lawyer, she can be quite convincing. I'm sure that he will consent for it just fine."

"House… it's a little rash to resort to doing this don't you think?"

House sighed and rolled his eyes before he looked to Foreman. "Call Meyer, end of discussion." He watched as Chase and Foreman walked off, which left him and Cameron to stand in the hallway.

"Are you doing this just because it's Stacy's husband?" Cameron questioned, concerned.

"Cameron, we have nothing else to go on, and it's the only thing I can think of for the moment to try and get some answers. Does it make me feel satisfied that Mark will be cut open… maybe a little but that's beside the point. I need answers." At that, House turned and walked away from Cameron, leaving her in the hallway to consider his words.

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Stacy sat in the waiting room while Mark was undergoing his surgery. She sat back in her chair as she wrote notes in her notebook, jotting things down about the current case she was working on. At hearing a cough she glanced up to see House, holding out a cup of coffee to her.

"Double creamer, no sugar." He stated. He let her take the cup from him and he sat down beside her.

"I actually like sugar in my coffee now." She said with a slight grin.

House felt a grin come to his lips. "Do you know why people like to sit in waiting rooms?" he asked randomly.

Stacy huffed and rolled her eyes. "Tell me oh wise one, this is going to be good."

"People believe that the closer they sit to the OR, the closer they are to their loved ones, the more that they care about that person."

"That's why I'm here. Everyone must see that I'm sitting here, waiting to hear the good or bad news about my husband…" Stacy shifted, halfway facing him. "I heard that you've started to see someone."

House looked to the floor and tapped his cane on the floor a few times. "I've seen her twice. Two dates."

Stacy smiled. "I'm happy for you."

"She actually saved the first date. It would have gone pretty badly if she didn't step up and get me more comfortable."

"Brave woman." Stacy answered with a chuckle. "She must be the one that I haven't met yet that is a part of your team." She smirked as House nodded in response. "She doesn't want to meet me does she?"

"Don't take it personally. I'm sure that she will introduce herself in time since you'll be here until we fix your broken husband." He stated before he slowly stood, leaning heavily on his cane. He reached into his pocket and quickly popped a Vicodin before returning the bottle to its rightful place. "I'll let you know when we know something." St seeing Stacy nod, he turned and walked down the hallway and to his office, his nerves feeling a bit frayed.

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It wasn't long before Foreman walked into House's office. "The only thing that Meyer found in surgery was a distended bladder. I'm starting to agree with Cameron, the man is perfectly healthy."

House leaned back in his desk chair and gingerly propped his bad leg on his desk before following it up with the other one. "The bladder doesn't explain his stomach pain or the mood swings… get me the video of his surgery." He let all of his team go home when five in the afternoon arrived while he stayed behind. House pulled his chair up to the tv that sat in his office and put in the tape of Mark's surgery. He played with his cane as he watched through the tape, at one point thinking that he saw something, only for it to be some fuzz on his tv screen. '_I need a bigger screen to look at this on._' He thought before he paused it and removed the tape. The OBGYN lounge room was the place that House found to be perfect as he restarted the tape from the beginning and concentrated on the larger screen. Half way through, House reached for his phone and hit speed dial, getting a grumbled and tired hello in response. "Call in the troops; I'll see you when you get here."

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The whole team sat in House's office, everyone yawning in intervals. House pressed play on the tape and watched as everyone stared at it blankly. "Don't everyone talk all at once now… I know you're dying to say something."

Cameron eyed the partially empty bottle of whiskey on House's desk before she looked up at him questioningly.

"Don't mind the booze, now what do you see?" House questioned as he pointed at the screen with his cane.

Foreman rolled his eyes. "You're unbelievable you know that?"

Cameron suddenly pointed at the screen. "Right there… tremors in the muscle fiber."

Chase leaned forward to get a better view. "That's not peristalsis, its abdominal epilepsy, which means there's some sort of neurological problem."

House nodded. "It's a bomb just waiting to go off in his brain… now who said it was nothing?" he questioned as he eyed Cameron. "Foreman, Chase, go get me some of those brain waves of his and get back to me." He watched as they slowly stood and left his office.

Cameron stood from her seat and yawned before she walked up to House and placed her hand on his arm. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly. "I know this case is tough on you."

On a reflex, House reached for her hand and took it in his own. "I'll be alright." He mumbled as he looked down at her, locked onto her hazel eyes. "Stacy asked about you."

"She did, did she?" Cameron asked with a tiny grin. She took a small step that brought her face to face with him. She took his other hand and gently squeezed them in reassurance. "How do you feel about that?"

'_I don't know what to feel…_' he thought as he glanced to Cameron's shoes before he looked back into her eyes. He took a deep breath and felt himself grin. "She said that she's happy for me…"

"Then you should be happy for yourself." She whispered in response as she leaned up onto her toes to brush a small kiss on his cheek, only for House to barely move his head making her brush her lips against his. When she pulled away her face was suddenly flushed pink which made him smirk and chuckle.

"Did I just fluster the almighty Allison Cameron?"

"Just a little." She admitted before she reached up and released one of House's hands to claps it behind his neck to pull him down and press her lips flush with his own.

**Please let me know what you guys think! I love hearing from my readers, it helps me stay motivated to keep writing.**


	8. Chapter 8

**This is the longest chapter that I have written so far! It took a bit to find a good ending point for this chapter. I hope that you are enjoying the story! please follow and review!**

Later in the morning Cameron stood in front of the coffee maker, making a fresh cup for everyone, knowing that it would be needed. There hadn't been much sleep between being in the lab running tests and checking in on Mark in his room. It wasn't long ago when Foreman had left to do the required brain wave tests that they needed on Mark to confirm what they saw in the video. Upon hearing the machine beep at her, Cameron looked down at the pot that was now full of coffee. '_He hasn't said a word to me since I kissed him last night… I really wonder if I took it too far. He did kiss me back though, so I guess it couldn't have been that bad_.'

Foreman walked into the diagnostic room and pulled Cameron from her lingering thoughts. IT was then that she noticed that House was standing behind her expectantly. Dutifully she filled his red mug with coffee and added two packets of sugar before she handed the mug to him. "Did you find anything in the test?" she asked.

Foreman nodded as he placed the test results papers on the table. "I saw a very small diffuse abnormality in the brain waves. Probably white matter which means his axonal nerves are dying. It explains the neurogenic bladder that he has been complaining about."

House furrowed his brows as he took a sip of his coffee. "If enough nerves die, he'll die."

"Global axonal nerve death, the likely causes are encephalitis or Alzheimer's." Foreman responded quickly as he watched House turn and begin to write on his white board.

Cameron sighed and sat in the nearest chair. "Early onset… the worst."

House nodded as he continued to write, "He won't die on us right away but he will want to."

Foreman reached for his notes. "We'll check for protein markers in his blood work for Alzheimer's."

House turned and placed his half empty mug on the table. "Last I remember Alzheimer's is hereditary. Patient have any in his history? Parents?"

Cameron reached for Mark's folder, her coffee mug ling forgotten beside her as she filtered through the pages. "No, his parents died in a car crash. No history for dementia either."

House reached out and grabbed the file for himself and began to look over it. "Go ahead and send CSF or CBC and viral serologies to rule out encephalitis, and get Tal proteins to check for Alzheimer's." He watched as Foreman nodded and stood, preparing to leave the room. "Hey, take the aussie with you when you check the house."

Chase, who had been quiet throughout the whole exchange, scoffed. ""They live two hours away."

House smirked, "Then you can pay the toll bill." He reopened the file as both men stood. "Check for anything in the house that could cause this besides Alzheimer's, heavy metals, toxins, the works."

Cameron watched as both of her teammates left the room. She looked over at House who was still looking through the file. "Snooping?" she questioned as she reached for her forgotten coffee and took a sip, finding it cold.

House glanced in Cameron's direction before he closed the file and let it fall back onto the table with a plop. "Nope." He replied before he walked into his office and shut the door behind him.

'_Great… what the hell do I do now?_' She thought as she stood and began to make her way to the lab to do the required tests that House had asked for. Cameron made herself at home in the lab as she began working on said tests, one at a time when she heard a knock on the door. When she glanced up she saw that it was Stacy.

"I assume that's for Mark?" she asked.

Cameron nodded. "You know about Mark's parents but what about further back, grandparents, great grandparents? Aunts, Uncles… how was their health?"

Stacy chuckled, "House has you fishing I see… he hates fishing, does he have a theory?"

"Right now everything is pointing towards Alzheimer's."

"No… nothing that I recall. There isn't any memory loss, I mean he forgets where he puts his keys sometimes, but doesn't everyone do that?" Stacy questioned.

"What about family history?"

"Nope, nothing." Stacy answered as she leaned against the lab counter. She watched as Cameron sat back in her seat and removed her glasses.

"You were with House right? When it all happened, with his leg?"

Stacy smiled. "I know that you're interested in him."

"We've been on a couple of dates. The first one would have been a disaster if I didn't save it." She admitted.

"Our first date didn't go well. I wasn't going to ever see him again but a week later I moved in with him and were together for five years. What would you like to know?"

"How was he before his leg?" Cameron asked reluctantly.

"He was pretty much the same person that he is now. But I can see a shift in him since you have come around him. I know that I haven't been around him in a long time but I know Greg. He's interested in you just as much as you're interested in him. Let him come to you."

Cameron let a small smile appear on her face as the machine in front of her beeped. She put her glasses back on to see the results of the test. "Mark is clear, there's no Alzheimer's."

Stacy nodded. "That's what I figured it would be."

Meanwhile at Mark and Stacy's home Foreman and Chase were looking through their belongings, looking for anything that could explain his symptoms. Foreman noticed a tarp on the patio and uncovered it. "This is a serious mountain bike, looks like it hasn't been touched in a while though."

Chase walked out on the patio. "He's switched to doing yoga, there's a brand new mat and tape in the living room."

"The man is getting older Chase."

"Or it could indicate that he has back pain."

"The wife would have mentioned that by now."

"You know yoga is good for picking up the ladies too." Chase said with a chuckle.

Foreman walked back inside and walked in the kitchen. "Not when you do it in your own home. The change could just be a change and nothing to worry about." He reached up and opened a cabinet to find a plate of cookies with a note on them. "Hey Chase, check this out. Dear House boys, a snack for your highly illegal search. Hope you like oatmeal raisin. Love, Stacy." He chuckled and looked over at Chase with a smile. They both took a cookie and eagerly ate them before they continued their search of the house.

"Woah, wait a minute." Chase stated as he pulled a pill bottle from the desk drawer that resided in their living room. "This was in the back of the drawer, hidden away."

Back in the diagnostic room a couple of hours later Chase and Foreman walked in to see Cameron and House sitting at the table looking over ideas on the white board. "Amphetamines." Chase Stated as he tossed the bottle towards House, watching as he caught it and looked at the bottle.

"They're regularly used, could lead to neurotoxicity and explains the axonal nerve damage and the personality issues." Foreman explains as he sits in in his normal chair.

"On the other hand, these are prescribed to a G. Browning." House said as he placed the bottle on the table.

"He could have put them under a fake name." Cameron guessed.

House nodded as he sat down in a chair and rubbed his left leg a moment before he popped a pill in his mouth from his pocket. "He could be, but the prescribing doc, his name is real. This doctor just had his license pulled for writing illegal prescriptions to high school kids."

The team's eyes collectively widened. "Mark is a high school guidance counselor." Cameron said.

House sighed slightly and grabbed the bottle again. "Mr. Browning's birth date makes him 17-years-old. You think maybe these were confiscated by a high school guidance counselor?" He questioned. "Is there anything else that could be relevant?" He asked as he put the bottle in his pocket.

Chase nodded. "Um, he switched from mountain biking to doing yoga…"

House shook his head, interrupting Chase, "He's getting older, what did the CSF say about encephalitis?"

Cameron looked down at her paperwork. "Test said no. Champagne tap. No red cells, no white cells, serology's also negative."

House nodded as he looked around at his team. "Which means were back at it being Alzheimer's."

"I told Stacy that he didn't have it. The markers were negative." Cameron quickly replied.

House looked over at Cameron. "Well, then you should have told her that. He could still have it though. Chase, Foreman, PET scan will reveal any change in metabolic activity in the cerebral cortex, run him through and check his memory." He watched as the men of his team got up and left the room before he turned back to Cameron. "You talked to Stacy?" he asked.

"She came in the lab when I was running Mark's tests."

"What came up I wonder… anything about me?" he asked.

Cameron watched House as he scooted his seat slightly closer to her. '_This is the most he has talked to me all day when not talking about work_.' "I- I did ask her a question but it wasn't anything personal."

"You're lying." House said as he leaned forward and reached out his hand to rest on her arm.

"I am not." She answered as she glanced at his hand and back up at him, His eyes capturing her.

House smirked. "You're biting your lower lip, you're stuttering and you are shortening your answers. I've known you for a few months now Cameron. I know when you're lying. What did you ask her? I won't be mad. It's natural for you to be curious."

Cameron huffed and grabbed his hand to hold it gently. "I asked her if you were the same person before what happened to your leg."

"What did she say?"

"That you were the same person."

House nodded. "She's right… I've always been a bit of an asshole. I only show my squishy side to certain people." He said as he squeezed her hand before he slowly let it go and sat upright in his chair again.

Meanwhile Chase and Foreman stood behind the glass panel as they prepared Mark for his PET scan. Foreman pressed the button to speak to Mark. "We're going to inject a chemical marker called FDDNP. Then I'm going to ask you a series of questions okay?"

"You're checking my memory?" Mark asked.

"Yep, first we're gonna map out some specific brain functions; check out the engine before we take the car for a drive." Foreman looked over to see House walk into the small room. He removed his hand from the intercom. "You checking on me?" he asked. They both watched as the nurse tech injected the chemical into Mark's IV.

House rolled his eyes. "I find the lights in here dazzling."

Foreman sighed as Mark was entered into the large machine. He pressed down on the intercom again. "Okay, here we go. Give me your full name?"

"Mark James Warner."

Foreman nodded. "Is your mother living?"

"No."

Foreman made a note in his papers. "Limbic system's intact." He pressed on the intercom again. "Okay, say you find a stamped envelope on the street. What would you do?"

"I would… find a mailbox and mail it." Mark answered.

House rolled his eyes. "Jeez, what a guy. His frontal lobe is working better than mine." House reached over and pressed on the intercom. "Do you remember when you got married?"

"Three years ago this June, who is that?" Mark asked.

At seeing the look Foreman was giving him, House shrugged. "What? He could have an issue with long term memory." He stated before pressing on the intercom again. "Big church wedding or something small?"

"Is that House?" Mark called out.

"He remembers voices." House stated.

Foreman scoffed. "This has no diagnostic purpose House."

House shrugged again. "I thought you skimped on the limbic system, there. Emotional reactions, I just want to be thorough." He pressed on the intercom again. "Did the atheistic bride wear a pretty, white dress?"

Mark rolled his eyes within the machine. "Are you asking if she was thinking about you? Is that what you medically want to know House?"

House sighed and pressed down on the intercom once again. "What jewelry did your bride wear?"

"She never wears any jewelry…except that cross her mother gave to her. I remember because she ripped her pretty, white dress off in the car. Is that the sort of answer you're looking for, Doctor?" Mark asked sarcastically.

House looked over at Foreman. "I think I upset him."

"House, you need to stop this, now." Foreman replied then turned his head back to the machine as Mark began to speak again.

"I remember us going to Europe for the honeymoon… I remember because we never left our hotel room for the two weeks that we were there."

House sighed. "Well he's a bit defensive."

Foreman chuckled. "It's not paranoia if someone feels like they're out to get you."

"I'm not out to get him. I was really trying to get more information out of him. I have no interest in Stacy." House answered.


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's your next chapter! enjoy! (As a reminder, I own nothing related to House MD or affiliates)**

House stood outside on the roof of the hospital. He sighed to himself as he looked out into the night sky and leaned against the wall when Stacy barged through the door. He rolled his eyes, "Oh great…"

"The man is sick, paranoid, and you kept badgering him about me during his PET scan?!" She hollered.

House scoffed. "The questions I asked him were designed to define the operational parameters of his limbic system –"

"Oh, don't give me that crap. You can say all the medical terminology that you want, but you were just screwing with him! That's low even for you." Stacy crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

"Medical screwing… it's what I do after all."

"Then you run away like a ten year old. You come and hide on this roof like you always do!"

House turned to face Stacy and sighed. "I haven't been on this roof in five years." He watched as Stacy drew her shoulders together and took a couple of steps back. He rolled his eyes and turned back to face the city. "I don't know what's wrong with him. It's not Alzheimer's, it's not encephalitis, it's not environmental, and it's not immunological. Every test has been negative, every time. He's perfectly healthy, but his brain is dying."

Stacy began to sniffle. "It never occurred to me that you wouldn't figure out what is wrong with him." House nodded and let her walk over to him for a hug.

"I'm not going to give up on him, you know that."

Stacy nodded and pulled away from him and wiped her tears. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait."

"Wait? For what?" she asked.

"We wait for something to change. It's one of the great tragedies of life, something always changes."

At that moment House's pager decided to sound and he retrieved it from his pocket. "Head back down stairs."

"What, Why?"

House looked up at Stacy and nodded to the stairs. "Something changed… go." He watched as she turned quickly and pulled open the door and left him standing there on the roof. '_I guess I better go see what's up with Mark too.' _He sighed and made his way to the door himself and slowly walked down the flight of stairs that would lead him to the nearest elevator. When he arrived at Mark's room, he furrowed his brows together. "What's going on?" he asked.

Mark looked up at House incredulously. "My-my toes they started to tingle, then-then I felt nothing." He looked over at Stacy, who was sitting beside him in a chair. "I'm scared… please hold my hand."

House and Stacy both looked down to see that Stacy was already holding Mark's hand. "Time moves on… he's paralyzed."

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The team all sat around the table while House stood in front of his white board. House tapped his cane on the ground as he thought before he sighed. "Any ideas?"

"His symptoms are mimicking a peripheral nervous system that is under attack" Foreman said as he looked towards the white board that was listed with all of Mark's symptoms. "But he's experiencing significant paresthesia, and he can't move his hands or toes."

House nodded as he continued to thump his cane on the floor. "It's peripheral. Guillain-Barre syndrome attacks there, not in the brain."

Foreman shook his head in disagreement. "No. I already did an indirect Coombs' test. No glutination, no antibodies to suggest that's happening."

"Great initiative!" House said loudly. "Like that. Start him on IV immunosuppress—"

Foreman quickly interrupted him, "No antibodies means he doesn't have Guillain-Barre, period."

House sighed. "Period? More like dot dot dot. What if he has the virus but isn't producing those antibodies?" He questioned.

Chase rolled his eyes and decided to butt in. "Come on, the chances of that are –"

House held up his hand and quickly cut him off. "I'm not asking for that, I'm saying _what if_."

Foreman thought for a moment as he sat back in his chair. "It would mean that his body is ill but it isn't doing anything about it. It's not fighting back to rid of what he has."

Cameron nodded in agreement. "If we don't fight it for him, it's going to be fatal."

"Fatal sounds awful bad to me." House stated.

Chase sat forward in his chair. "But without the antibodies we can't even test for it. We don't know if we're right about this."

House nodded again. "The treatment isn't all that dangerous, plasmapheresis and IVIG. If it works, we're right. If he dies, it was something else." He watched as Chase and Foreman stood along with Cameron. The boys quickly left the room while Cameron stayed behind.

"I heard that you were on the roof?" She asked.

House nodded before he walked to the door of his office and entered inside, knowing that Cameron was on his tail. "Why are you following me?" he asked.

"Because I know you're not okay. I know that even though Mark is your patient, you're worried about her being here, worried that the past will rear its head at you."

House huffed as he let himself fall into his office chair. "Why does everyone seem to think that I need looked after because she is here?" he questioned.

Cameron walked up to House, standing almost between his legs. "You have a past with her; a lot of things happened… it's understandable to be stressed out about it all."

House rolled his eyes. "Cameron, I am not dealing with this right now. I am _fine_… alright?"

"You don't act fine."

"Cameron! Enough… Go help Foreman and Chase." He watched as her eyes widened before she quickly rushed out of his office. He didn't fail to notice that her eyes quickly became glossy at his outburst. '_Great._'

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Cameron smiled politely at Mark as she checked on him. They had him now hooked to a dialyzer, hoping to treat his symptoms better. "So the paralysis might not be permanent?" he asked her, his voice hopeful.

Cameron nodded. "That's our hope, but the brain's tricky. You never know how it can go."

Stacy smiled as she sat in her chair beside Mark. She furrowed her brows as she noted Cameron's face was a bit sullen. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Cameron quickly nodded. "I'm fine." She said and smiled, getting a smile from Stacy in return only for Stacy to look over Cameron and out the sliding glass door to see House leaning against the nurse's station. House jerked his head towards himself when he knew he had her attention.

"What's that?" Mark asked, having seen him do it too.

"What?" Stacy asked.

"That look he just gave you." Cameron turned to see House standing there and quickly turned back to check on what she was doing with Mark.

"He just wants to talk, I'll be right back." Stacy said as she stood. She patted Cameron's shoulder as she began to leave the room only to be interrupted.

"Go on, leave!" Mark called out. "You're going to leave me anyway."

Stacy turned back to face Mark. "That is not going to happen, you know that."

"You left him and he has a limp. What about me if I can't walk?!" he questioned loudly.

"I'm not going anywhere Mark; I don't have to talk to him." Stacy quickly answered as she returned to his side.

Cameron put a hand on his arm. "Mark, what you're feeling isn't real, it's the virus." Mark suddenly started to choke, his eyes growing wide. Cameron removed his pillows and looked in his throat when a penlight that she removed from her lab coat pocket. "Mark? His throat's closing up, he can't breathe. Code blue!" Cameron yelled, causing nurses to rush in the room along with House. "He's having a reaction to the IVIG, I need epi stat!" She attempted to tube him but he kept jerking around, making it unable to get the scope in his mouth. "I can't get the scope in his throat!" she called out.

"Stop!" House called out from the back of the room.

"What do you mean?" Cameron called. "He's having an allergic reaction, he's crashing!"

"No, he's not. Look at his vitals. O2 stats are within range. I'm betting the only abnormal sign is sweaty palms." Stacy leaned over and grabbed his hand. She looked up at Cameron and House and nodded. "Push two milligrams Ativan." He watched as Cameron grabbed for the Ativan and injected it into his IV. Mark quickly adjusted and became calm again. "It was just a panic attack. Something obviously had him freaked him out."

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Later in the evening House stood on the balcony of his office when Wilson came up behind him. "What's up? You needed me?" he asked.

"I love the bear you got him, rather adorable really."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "My wife is going to kill me, were planning on having company over, she cooked even."

"You'll be able to make it home… I got Mark's blood work back, he's not responding to treatment."

Wilson let out a breath. "I'm sorry."

House nodded and leaned against the balcony wall. "I was happy you know. He's my patient. I'm sure he's a good guy; he's probably a great guy. Probably a much better guy than I am. There's just some part of me that wants him to die. I'm just not sure if it's because I want to be back with her for some reason or if it's because I want her to suffer." He said with a sigh, before he looked up and met Wilson's eyes.

Wilson shrugged. "I knew that her bringing him here would cause problems. But she trusts you to find the answers for her and fix her husband like you would fix anyone else."

"I thought that she was wrong about him being ill. But I figured I would treat him anyway because it was her that was asking."

"Good thing that you took him in then…" Wilson moved to stand beside his friend and put his hand on his shoulder. "Look… focus on what you have here and now and not what you had in the past. Focus on Cameron… Allison is a really good thing for you, don't push her away because Stacy is here, and bring her closer to you. Stacy and Mark are good together and she's happy. Focus on you being happy and treat him like any other patient." Seeing House's shoulders relax slightly caused Wilson to nod and pat House's back. "I'll see you tomorrow House." He said softly before leaving the balcony and House's office.

House stood there for a little while longer, staring out into the city as it got darker and later into the evening, beginning to turn into night. He pulled his phone from his pocket and stared at it as he scrolled down to Cameron's contact. He took a deep breath and hit the call button, hoping that she'd answer him even at the now later hour.


	10. Chapter 10

**Big chapter ten! I keep getting new readers on both sites that this is posted to, so I thought that I would give you guys a bit of a gift in the form of a long chapter. This is the longest chapter that I have written so far! I hope to continue to give you guys long chapters, but they will fluctuate as I'm sure you guys know. I hope you like the chapter and please follow and review!**

The next day House walked into Mark's room and nodded towards Stacy. "Can I talk to you, would that be alright?"

Stacy nodded and looked towards Mark. "I'll be right back okay?" At receiving his nod, she followed House out of the room. "Is everything alright?"

House nodded as he continued to walk, Stacy walking beside him. "You two are good together. I'm happy to see that you're happy."

"You don't know anything about Mark." She clarified.

"He took you to Europe, a place that you have always wanted to go to, that's plenty good enough for me."

"We never went to Europe." Stacy answered, shaking her head as she walked.

"Your honeymoon… it's been your dream place to visit, he said that he took you when we did his memory testing."

Stacy shook her head again and stopped walking, causing House to stop and turn to face her. "No we didn't, I had to work. We spent the night in New York, and then we went back to Short Hills."

House furrowed his brows together. "When did Mark switch from mountain biking to yoga?" he asked.

"Around a month ago, the same time he started to act sick, why?"

"We have two more symptoms then." He stated, before he left and walked in the opposite direction, leaving Stacy in the hallway.

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House stood in his office, watching as Foreman sat back in his seat at the desk with a sigh. "The patient was presented with questions to test his memory and the function of his brain."

"All you did was grill the poor man about Stacy." Cuddy grumbled.

House sighed in return and sat down on the couch in his office. "Whatever. Yeah, the point is he told us everything we needed to know to diagnose him in the first place. That is if we use your fancy PET scan as a lie detector. See, it's a very creative process, lying. Now, telling the truth is a much simpler process. See here," he said as he looked over the questions he asked Mark in his notes. "Question nine; this is where Mark gives a long, rambling answer about taking Stacy to Europe. What does the PET scan say?" House looked up at Foreman, expecting an answer.

Chase, who'd been leaned against the wall decided to speak up. "There was minimal involvement, just the frontal and temporal lobes. He said that they went to Europe and the PET confirms it, so what?"

House grinned. "They didn't go. They never went to Europe, and yet Mark's brain apparently thinks that he really did spend two weeks there with Stacy." He stood up and walked into the meeting room, nodding towards Cameron who was sat at the large table. He turned to his white board and erased everything from it to begin writing something new. "So we have an intermittent syndrome that presents with abdominal pain, polyneuropathy, paranoia and delusions. Now, here's the thing about Acute Intermittent Porphyria. It'll jump you in a dark alley, beat the crap out of you, and leave you bleeding. But it uses gloves, so no fingerprints, it doesn't show up in blood tests, urine tests, nothing. Unless you catch it red handed in the middle of an attack."

Cameron furrowed her brows as she stopped working on the mail. "But there are more symptoms of AIP."

"Like?" House questioned.

Chase and foreman had followed House into the meeting room and took their respective seats around the table. "Light sensitivity." Chase stated, watching as House jotted it down on the board.

"Yeah, well, one of the true tragedies of this condition is it makes you want to keep your cool, ditch the new mountain bike in the garage and take up an indoor sport like, say, yoga." House turned to face his team. "Start the treatment: hematin and glucose."

"If you give him hematin and you're wrong, he will die… today." Foreman stated.

"There's only one way to confirm that he has AIP; urine sample made during the attack." Chase said.

"There's no way to predict when he will have another attack either." Cameron spoke up, causing House to grin.

"Sure there is." He said assuredly before he grabbed his cane off the white board and left the room. The team collectively looked at each other and moved to follow him. It wasn't long until they all arrived at Mark's room.

"What are you up to House?" Foreman asked. Stacy looked at all of them, puzzled.

"Acute Intermittent Porphyria has very specific triggers. Barbiturates, alcohol, high levels of protein set off an attack." He began as he walked over to the medi-cart and began looking through it.

Stacy looked at House and then his team. "Which trigger do you think set off Mark's?"

"Not the faintest idea, that's why I'm going to give him the combo," House answered as he opened various drawers of the cart, looking for what he needed.

"So if you do this and Mark has another attack, it will make him worse… right?" Stacy questioned.

House nodded. "Yes. But then we will know what he has and we will be able to treat it."

"What if you give me that shot and I don't have what you think I have?" Mark asked. "What happens?"

House turned and shrugged at them both. "I have no idea. We don't know what is screwing with your brain, so we cannot be sure how you will react."

Stacy stood up. "I think I need a moment to talk to my husband." House nods and gestures for his team to leave the room before he follows them and shut the door behind him. They all wait outside the room while Stacy talked to Mark. House kept glancing over at Cameron as he stood beside her, letting his shoulder rest against hers.

It wasn't long before Stacy emerged from Mark's room and walked up to House and the team. "He doesn't want the trigger. He wants to wait, see if there's another explanation. If it is the AIP, how much time does he have?" she asked.

House let out a deep breath. "I honestly have no idea. It could be six months from now or five minutes from now. The next attack could be lethal."

Stacy nodded. "I want you to test him."

House nodded. "Fine. I'll send for a HMB synthetase mutation, genetic test. Lab will get back to us in a month."

Stacy shook her head. "I want you to give him the cocktail. Trigger an attack."

House shook his head in return. "No." This caused his team to all look at him.

Stacy stared at him. "Why not?" she questioned, tempted to raise her voice.

"He doesn't want me to."

Stacy rolled her eyes. "Seriously?" She questioned loudly. "I'm not going to sue you, I won't report you for doing this."

House sighed to himself. "He might." He said, gesturing towards Mark's room.

"He's paralyzed! Either you can cure him, or he won't be able to write any letters in the first place."

"I'm not going to do it Stacy."

"Why not?!" She half yelled.

"You keep asking me that question; my answer doesn't change. I gave him the parameters, it's his call." House said sternly as he leaned heavily on his cane. By this time, his team had stepped away from them both, even Cameron, giving them some space.

"You want him to die." Stacy said in a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest.

House took a step back and leaned against the nurse station's counter. "I did my job. I diagnosed him. You want somebody to tie him down and force him into treatment? Well, you're way better at that than I am." He said sternly.

"Is that what this is, payback for your _leg_? How many times have we been over this Greg; I saved your life." Stacy said angrily.

"Maybe." He replied.

"You're going to let my husband die to teach me a lesson?" she admonished.

"No, he's going to die because he's too stubborn to make the right choice for himself."

Stacy shook her head. "Oh, now were in your territory."

Cameron looked between the two as she sat on a nearby bench. '_I really want to step in and just shove her away… but he would be so pissed at me for thinking he can't handle her._' She thought to herself. She tapped her foot on the tile floor, hoping for the argument to end soon.

"I'm respecting your husband's decision; I don't see why you've got a problem with that." House said evenly. He was doing his best to keep his anger at bay, to be the doctor and not the ex-boyfriend. '_Quit pushing Stacy…_' He thought as he tapped his cane on the ground a couple of times.

Stacy paced back and forth in front of House for a few moments before she stopped and stared at him and pointed at his chest. "It's crap! Because you browbeat patients, intimidate them, lie to them. If you think you're right you don't give a damn what they think. I did what you do all the time; the only difference is I did it to _you_."

"He will never forgive you if you do this." House said finally.

"Yes he will." Stacy answered before she quietly returned to Mark's room.

House sighed and looked down at the floor for a few moments before he made his way back to the elevator that would take him to his office.

Cameron looked at Foreman and Chase. "Don't look at me; I'm not going up there to him. I'll go do some clinic hours." Foreman said. Chase nodded in agreement before they both got up from their spot and left towards the elevator to go down to the clinic on the first floor.

Cameron watched them leave before she stood and looked into Mark's room one last time before she walked to the elevator and pushed the button that would take her to House's office. When she reached his office, she could see him sitting on his couch with his head in his hands. The lights in his office had been turned off, the only light coming from a small lamp that sat on the corner of his desk. '_Should I go in?_' She thought as she watched him. He didn't move and Cameron wondered if he was in his right mind at the moment. After debating with herself, she slowly opened his office door and walked inside. "House?" she called out softly, once the door was shut behind her. She didn't get a response. She stood there a moment allowing her eyes to adjust, before walking over and sitting beside him on the couch. He hadn't moved. House sat still as stone, as if he hadn't heard her call out to him; the only sound in the room being the clock and the sounds of their breathing. Cameron swallowed hard before she took the chance and placed her hand on his back, resting it between his shoulder blades. "Greg?" she whispered.

When he felt Cameron's hand rest on his back, he slowly let some tension out of his shoulders and let out a long sigh. '_She always has to be there for people. At least that pertains to me too._' He dropped his hands to hang limp from his lap and continued to look at the floor. "Here to take care of me?" he asked quietly.

"You know I care about you. How could I not come up here after what she said to you." She answered, automatically beginning to rub his back.

"I figured you lot would have left at the first sign of trouble." He grumbled.

"Chase and Foreman kept pretty far away, but I was nearby. I almost intervened, I'm not gonna lie."

"That would have gone over _so_ well."

"Which is why I didn't. I wanted to, but I know you can handle her." At that comment, House scoffed and tilted his head to look at her.

"Really now?"

Cameron let herself grin. "Yes… whatever you decide I know that you will be alright. It was just such a low blow for her to mention about what happened between you two. But It is unlike you to also want to do the right thing like this."

House smirked and moved to sit up, Cameron's hand moving to rest at his lower back. "Well it's clear that she hasn't changed. She's trying to do something without his permission that could kill him. Yes the condition he most likely has could also kill him at any time, but it is just the fact that she would rather do this than let the man decide. She didn't let me decide, did what I didn't want while I was in an induced coma after my surgery."

"You're going to do what she wants aren't you?" She asked softly as she played with the end of his shirt.

House took a deep breath and nodded. "Not because she wants me to. I really am curious if the cocktail will save him."

Cameron nodded in response, letting it become silent in the room. House moved to wrap his arm around her and pull her to him, letting her arm stay against his back. He felt as she wrapped her other arm around him, embracing him and resting her head on his shoulder. "When are you going to do it?" she whispered.

"Give it a couple hours. Let her cool off."

Cameron nodded and cuddled against him. The time seemed to both drag by and move quickly as they sat there. Nobody bothered them and they just sat there, content with being in each other's arms. An hour had gone by before Cameron realized and she glanced up at House to see that his eyes were closed. "Greg?" she whispered as she nudged him in his ribs. "Are you asleep?"

"Mmph." House replied, pulling away from her touch.

Cameron smirked. "Are you ticklish?" she questioned as she poked him in the ribs again, only to have him squirm away from her and let out a small chuckle and open his eyes and meet hers.

"Knock it off." He mumbled his voice raspy from dozing off.

"You are ticklish!" She exclaimed before she began to tickle him repeatedly. House began to laugh, sounding like music to her ears. She smiled wide and hugged him tighter so he couldn't get away from her, even though she knew that he could easily over power her.

"Allison!" he hollered in between laughing and trying to gasp for air. It wasn't long before he maneuvered himself to where he could easily grab her wrists without hurting her and pulled them from his side. He was still chuckling when he turned to fully face her. "Don't you dare exploit that." He said with a wide smile.

"Now that's not fair." She chuckled.

"Oh, yes it is, or you will rue it."

"I will rue it? Really?" she laughed. "Clever vocabulary Dr. House."

"You know it… I can be a lot more colorful with it if you'd like?" he asked as his voice dropped an octave, becoming husky.

Cameron smirked and leaned towards him and placed a small kiss on his lips before barely pulling away. "I don't doubt it." She whispered. House grinned wryly before he gently pulled her back to him and kissed her back, but quickly deepened it, causing Cameron to slowly wrap her arms around his neck. House ran his tongue across her bottom lip, asking for permission and smirked into his kiss when she parted her lips for him, letting his tongue run against her own. When they pulled away from each other for air, they let their foreheads rest against each other.

"I'm guessing were okay?" House asked softly, his ocean eyes meeting forest green.

Cameron chuckled. "We've been okay since you called and apologized." House nodded and pulled her in for another lingering kiss before he slowly pulled away and tucked a stray hair from her face behind her ear.

"Let's go see if we can save this guy or not."

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House and Cameron arrived inside of Mark's room and saw that Foreman and Chase were already there, standing with Stacy. "Any change?" House asked.

Chase shook his head. "No, no change."

"That's consistent with AIP, right? Until he has another attack his condition's stable?" Stacy asked.

Cameron nodded. "Yeah."

Stacy turned and faced Mark. "You have to do this Mark,"

"I'm not going to take the shot, not until they are sure." Mark interrupted.

"You don't know Greg…"

"Not like you do. I only met him when he badgered me for a test."

House walked up to the cart and pulled out a syringe. "It's cocktail hour. Just because you can't hoist a few doesn't mean you should be left out."

Mark shook his head. "Get away from me."

Stacy moved to stand beside Mark. "Greg thinks this is what is wrong with you."

"You trust House's judgement over mine?" Mark questioned.

"His medical judgement."

"You'd base my life on that?"

"I would."

"I don't."

House sighed. "Smart. Too bad you're paralyzed." House uncaps the syringe and moves towards Mark only for Foreman to step in front of him.

"You need consent from him to do this." Foreman said.

"But doc, he's not right in the head." House said sarcastically.

Chase moved to stand beside Foreman. "Then you'll need to get a court order."

House smirked. "Okay, then get one. We'll wait here. I won't do nothin'."

Chase and Foreman looked over at Cameron, who stood against the wall of the room. "You're not going to stand up against this?" Chase asked.

"Just because you are with him doesn't mean you have to agree with everything the man does Cameron." Foreman argued.

Cameron sighed. "He's just trying to do what he thinks is right." She walked up to House and looked between them both.

Chase rolled his eyes and looked back at House. "Give me the syringe."

Stacy looked at everyone with tears in her eyes. "Please… this could be Mark's only shot if he is right."

House shrugged at Stacy. "So what's your plan? You take the big, dark one, the aussie will run like a scared wombat if things turn rough... I can't do it." House turned and looked as if he was going to walk off, which caused Foreman and Chase to relax, when he suddenly spun around and forced himself between the men and jabbed the syringe into Mark's leg.

"You son of a bitch!" Mark yelled. Cameron walked up to Mark in an instant and began to look over his vitals.

Stacy began looking at the doctors then back at Mark. "When will the reaction happen?"

"If he has AIP it should have already happened." Chase said.

House shook his head. "Everyone is different."

"This is not good. He could have embolism, tachycardia, stroke –"Foreman began when suddenly Mark began to thrash on the bed.

"What's going on?" Stacy questioned.

Cameron tried to keep Mark still. "Two milligrams of Ativan!" she called, taking it from Chase as he gave it to her and moved to inject it but was stopped by House.

"Don't! you'll pollute the sample that we need to test, Chase, get urine from the catheter."

Foreman began to panic. "He needs Ativan! It's not an attack, he's stroking!?"

House stood his ground. "This is not a stroke! Delta wave bursts just at the base of the spasm." He said. Just then Mark's catheter removed itself from his body.

"The catheter is out, there's no way to retrieve the sample."

"Hold him down." House called out as he grabbed for an empty syringe.

"Heart rate's in the 40s, bradycardia, we're losing him!" Foreman yelled.

Stacy put her hands over her mouth a moment, tears running down her face. "Please, give him something!"

"No pain killers!" House called out as he readied the syringe and stepped forward and jabbed Mark in his lower abdomen and began to pull up on the plunger. "You can't get any better than that, straight from the bladder, give him the Ativan, the man doesn't need to be awake for this." House turned and quickly left the room along with Foreman and Chase while Cameron quickly administered the medicine into Mark's IV.

"He'll rest now." Cameron said softly before she too left.

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House stood in the lab, looking over the urine sample while he was surrounded by his team. He swirled the sample for a moment before he added a chemical to it and put it under a small light.

"It's still yellow." Chase said.

House tilted a lamp to join in on the light he already had under the sample. "Move." He said, getting Chase out of his way so he could put the sample under a more direct light. He continued to swirl the sample.

"You think another light is going to change things?" Foreman questioned.

House glanced up before he continued to watch the sample. "Organic chemical more lights mean more oxidation. Ring any bells?" he said. Suddenly the sample quickly turned black and House smiled. "Start the patient on 150 milligrams glucose, 75 milligrams hematin." He heard his team quickly turn and walk out of the room as he sat the sample in an empty tray. He was suddenly grabbed from behind around his waist. He didn't have to look down to know it was Cameron, which made him smile wider.

"You did it." She said softly before she placed a kiss to his back. House nodded and patted her hands a couple of times before he rested his hand on top of hers.

"Case closed."


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's the next chapter for you guys! I hope that you guys enjoy it!**

House sighed as he sat on his couch. '_Why did I agree with Cuddy about letting Stacy work at the hospital?_' He questioned himself. He currently sat on his couch as he watched a rerun of his usual soap opera. He looked down at his phone seeing that it was six thirty pm. '_She should have been here by now._' He openly sighed and debated on just calling for take-out food. He knew that Cameron being twenty minutes late could be from anything from a long line at the grocery to traffic, to her just taking her sweet time. It was then that he heard the knock at the door to his apartment. "It's open!" he called out, not bothering to get up from his seat.

"I'm sorry!" Cameron called out as she quickly came inside, quickly shutting the door behind her. "The store was super busy and then traffic was just frustrating as hell." She said with a huff as she made her way into the kitchen, her arms full of bags.

House chuckled and looked over his shoulder. "Did you buy the whole grocery store?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "No." she chuckled. "I did get everything to make your favorite pasta dish though and I also got everything to make a good vegetable soup."

"You got everything to make lasagna from scratch?" he asked.

Cameron grinned. "I know that it's your favorite."

House grabbed his cane from the coffee table, stood and made his way in the kitchen. He watched as she unpacked the grocery bags a little at a time. "How do you know it's my favorite?" he asked.

"Wilson."

House rolled his eyes. "Of course."

"What?" Cameron asked with a giggle as she turned and opened House's oven and pulled out what pans were inside. "At least you have the right pan for me to fix this in. I was afraid that I would have to go back out."

House pulled out a chair at sat at the kitchen table. "Surprised?" He asked before his curiosity got the better of him and be began to snoop through the other bags.

"A little. You always say how you live off take out Chinese food and hookers at work." She mentioned as she took the pan that she needed and walked to the sink so she could rinse it out.

"Okay, this is going in the garbage, right now." House said suddenly.

"What?" she asked incredulously. "Nothing is bad that I bought House."

"But I _hate_ celery." He grumbled.

"When I make the soup, you won't even taste it House."

"How can you like this vile thing? A vegetable that has strings in it, plus it has a taste only a mother could love."

Cameron placed the pan on the counter and turned to face him. "When I fix the soup, you won't even taste it, the celery will dissolve."

"But I will know that you put it in there." He counteracted.

"House… I'm not arguing." She chuckled before she turned back around to the counter and pulled a pot from a nearby cabinet. As soon as she turned her back she heard a lot of rustling and movement. She turned around to grab for the ground beef and noticed that the celery was gone from the table. "House… where did you put it?"

"Put what?" He answered, a shit eating grin appearing on his face.

"You know what." She giggled. "The celery."

"Oh that… I think it grew legs and walked off."

"House, where is it?"

"I swear! The damn thing grew legs and walked off. I think it's watching porn in the living room."

Cameron sighed and walked in the living room to find that the celery was on the couch, still in its plastic bag. "Quit throwing things like a two year old, you dork." She giggled when she returned in the kitchen and put the veggie in the fridge along with the rest of the ingredients that she wouldn't be using for the lasagna. She continued to put together the dish and it wasn't too long before she placed in the oven for it to cook.

"How long will it take?" House asked, still sitting in his spot at the kitchen table.

"A bit over an hour and a half." She answered as she pulled out a chair of her own and sat beside him. House harrumphed and rapped his fingers on the kitchen table. "Let me guess, you're hungry now?" At his nod she rolled her eyes and stood up to sift through some things in the fridge. When she came back to the table she had a pack of sliced summer sausage and cheese. "How's this?"

"Perfect." He answered with a grin. They both snacked on the cheese and sausage while the lasagna cooked and it wasn't long before the smell of the dish began to fill the apartment.

"Have you seen Newsweek?" Cameron suddenly asked.

"No, I don't read it, why?"

"Marcus Grady, he's on the cover. He's fighting to get drugs for third world countries for TB."

"Your point?"

"I just think that he's doing well for others is all."

House scoffed. "Of course, I pick a woman with a bleeding heart."

"Oh you picked me huh?" she asked with a smile. House rolled his eyes but didn't answer, when the alarm on the stove dinged. "There's dinner." Cameron stood and grabbed a couple of tea towels and opened the oven to retrieve the food from within. Dinner was eaten in a companionable silence but Cameron could tell that something was on House's mind. She didn't want to push it and make him distance himself from her. After dinner was eaten and leftovers were put away House and Cameron sat on the couch while they tried to find something to watch on tv. When they finally chose something to watch Cameron found herself leaning her head on House's shoulder and felt her eyes getting heavy.

House glanced down at her and smiled as he maneuvered himself to put his arm around her and pulled her flush against his side. He felt her snuggle tight against him, which made him grin just a bit wider. He gently placed a kiss on her forehead and sighed. '_Even if Stacy is working at the hospital, I feel like this woman just might make it worth it._' It was then that he felt her rouse and wake a bit.

"What time is it?" Cameron grumbled voice half asleep.

"Shh, it's nine thirty, but I set an alarm. You can stay here tonight. We'll get up a bit early so you can stop by your place and put on some fresh clothes." House soothed.

Cameron let out a long yawn. "That's fine… but you won't be comfortable on the couch. Let's get in bed." House couldn't help but to agree with her, knowing that if he slept with his legs propped on the coffee table he'd be taking twice the Vicodin the next day. The pair disentangled from each other and Cameron helped House stand even in her half asleep state. After a quick trip to the bathroom for each of them, they were back to cuddling and spooning under the blankets in House's bed, both of them quickly falling asleep.

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When the alarm went off the next morning House reached for the nightstand to snooze it only to realize that he couldn't because of a very feminine arm that was wrapped around his waist. He looked over at Cameron to see that her hair was wavy and wild around her face as she still slept, tucked against him. He chuckled softly as he moved his body so he faced her and swept some hair away from her face. "Cameron?" he whispered. He watched as she furrowed her brows and tried to hide her face in his arm which made him chuckle again. "Allison." He said softly as he ran his fingertips down her cheek. This caused her to rouse a little easier and it wasn't long before House felt a kiss being left on his arm and her grip tighten on him. "Trying to squeeze the life out of me?" he asked.

"I don't want to get up." She grumbled, her voice muffled.

House grinned. "We both need to get up. It's Monday, there's work, plus we have to go to your place so you can get fresh clothes."

"And feed my cat." Cameron finished.

"You have a cat?" he asked. He watched as she moved so her head was resting on top of his arm, her eyes meeting his quickly.

"Yes, I do… he always hides when I have company over, so not many people ever get to see him. He's a big fluffy Turkish Angora. He was a gift."

"A gift?"

"From my mother, so I wouldn't be alone when I moved here."

House grinned. "What's his name? Please tell me it's nothing medical."

Cameron giggled as she began to run her hand up and down House's side. "His name is Everest."

"At least he has a good name. C'mon, we need to get up." He said before he moved to sit up, which made Cameron slowly relinquish her hold on him. It was then that House stood and limped into the bathroom and did his normal routine While Cameron stood and stretched before waiting her turn for the bathroom.

When they arrived at Cameron's apartment about a half hour later, she quickly filled her cat's empty bowl with dry food before she opened a cat of wet and put it on a small plate before she placed it on the counter. "I'll be right back, it won't take long for me to change clothes and freshen up." House nodded and leaned against her kitchen island to wait.

While waiting House noticed a flurry of white run into the kitchen before crunching sounds filled the room. He took a peek behind him to see the cat eating the dry food that Cameron had put out for him. '_As far as cats go, he's a pretty one_.' It was then that he heard Cameron walk back in the kitchen.

"Ready?" Cameron asked. He looked up and couldn't help the grin that came to his face. She smiled in response to it and walked up to him, leaned against his chest and leaned up to place a kiss against his lips.

"Might as well." House answered when he pulled away from her, showing off a genuine smile for once.

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When House and Cameron made it to PPTH they rode the elevator up to the diagnostics room, only for House to sigh as Chase told House that Cuddy wanted to see him. He grumbled to himself the whole way there and was in Cuddy's office about five minutes later. "What?" he said, not giving Cuddy time to say anything when he walked in her door. "If it's about clinic duty, I just got in,"

"It isn't." Cuddy answered simply from her spot behind her desk. She held up a copy of Newsweek. "Have you seen this?" she asked.

"It's Marcus Grady, what of it?" he asked.

"He collapsed during a presentation at Stoia Tucker this morning."

House rolled his eyes. "From what? His ego?" he asked sarcastically.

"Wow." Cuddy said as she shook her head at him and tossed Marcus's chart at House, which he easily caught. "He thinks he has TB."

House opened the chart and sifted through the few pages it held. "Why is he here in the first place?" he asked.

"He wants a second opinion."

**I hope that everyone is enjoying this story... if anyone want's to know what Everest looks like, use this photo: . **


	12. Chapter 12

**Here's the next chapter for you guys my house fans! as always please follow and review! I love getting your feedback and what you think**

House made the walk to the diagnostics room and his office to find that his patient was sitting amongst his team looking over his own charts and talking about the people he visited in Africa. '_Well this is going to be wonderful._' He sighed as he opened the door and removed his coat and put it over the nearest empty chair and watched as his patient removed a photo out of a folder.

"This is Lemma. He's a huge Knicks fan." Marcus said.

Foreman looked at the photo before he passed it to Chase as he tried to get Marcus's medical history. "You've never had an episode like this before?"

Marcus shook his head. "No." Marcus nodded back towards the photo, "He died last month; stupidly tried to share his meds with his cousin and they only had enough for one." It was then that Marcus noticed that House was standing beside him in the room. "Dr. House, I'm Marcus Grady. He moved to hold out his hand in a greeting. House just looked down at his open hand and sighed before he walked over to the coffee maker and made himself his usual morning cup.

"Patients are not usually here for the diagnostic process." House stated as he turned to face Marcus. He noticed Cameron eyeing him out of the corner of his eye but he ignored her for the moment as he waited for the man to respond.

Marcus raised an eyebrow at House. "Well, I'm a doctor…" he said, before he continued his tangent on his work in Africa. "Listen, I know you guys don't make a lot of money, but–"

Cameron quickly interrupted him. "I wrote your foundation a check last month."

Marcus smirked. "Okay… write another one."

Foreman looked between everyone before her pointed to Chase. "Ask him, he's rich."

Chase quickly shook his head. "My father is, not me."

Marcus nodded and continued with his plight. "Every minute we sit here four more people die of TB."

House scoffed as he turned to write down symptoms on his white board. "How do you sleep at night?" he questioned sarcastically. '_This man is full of himself even if he is helping others_.'

Marcus looked over at House incredulously, "There're people dying in Africa of a disease that we cured over –"

House raised his hand and interjected, "Yeah, I know. I saw the concert. Seriously, let's say you sleep six hours; that means every night you kill one thousand four hundred and forty people. I guess you got to get some sleep, but _come on_, if you'd stayed up another ten minutes you could have saved forty lives. Do you send notes to the families in the morning? That's going to take at least ten minutes so that's another forty dead, another forty notes…. Why don't you go wrack yourself with guilt in your own room?" House stated. He watched as his team looked at him gobsmacked at what he'd said to the man.

"House…" Cameron Said with a sigh on her breath.

Marcus looked at Cameron and held up his hand. "No, it's alright." He said before he turned back to House. "It's alright; I think I will stay right here, watch the differential."

House rolled his eyes and propped his cane against the table. "Chase please tell the patient why it's not good for him to sit in on the differential."

Chase shrugged. "He's an immunologist and a TB expert. I don't see anything wrong with him sitting in with us."

House smirked. "Well that may be useful, but I'll just go ahead and say it since someone here will, it's TB… what is that again?" He paused a moment, smelling something odd hit his nostrils. "What is that smell?"

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. It's just my body powder." Marcus said, speaking up.

"Doesn't everyone just love that aroma?" House questioned as he screwed his face up at the smell that now permeated the room.

"It's not bad to me." Chase said.

"If you can't say that the man's cologne makes you want to vomit, it is exactly why he shouldn't be in this room." This statement from House made Marcus chuckle much to House's displeasure.

"I will just save everyone the trouble here." Marcus spoke up. "It's TB."

House shook his head and moved to prop his body against the table, partially sitting on it. "No, the symptoms are too varied."

Marcus sighed. "Well you haven't seen over ten thousand cases of this, otherwise I would agree with your statement."

House raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted a second opinion on your diagnosis?"

Marcus shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "No, my backers want me to get a second opinion on my diagnosis."

"Yeah, doesn't look good if you drop dead while wearing your sponsor's logo."

"House!" Cameron scolded. She watched as he looked at her and sighed.

Marcus looked between Cameron and House for a few moments before he spoke again. "Look… its TB, and I'm not dying. I want you guys to plan a PPD and induce sputum to confirm the TB." House nodded to Chase and Foreman, who stood up and beckoned Marcus to stand and follow them. "Imaging studies will determine the progress, and I think we should probably take a CT-scan of my lungs just so that nobody second-guesses us?"

House scoffed and moved to sit in a chair. "We wouldn't want that." He said sarcastically as he watched Foreman and Chase walk with Marcus towards the elevator.

"You didn't have to be such an ass to him House." Cameron said as she stood up and walked over to him.

"The man's ego is bigger than mine."

"He just supports his work and is trying to save as many lives as possible. Isn't that what we do?" she asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder and rubbed her thumb across his collarbone a few times.

"Not to his extreme."

Cameron sighed to herself. "I know, you know that too, but I know you can respect him for his work even if he's overbearing about it all." She leaned down to place a lingering kiss on his cheek. "I'm going to go and catch up with them and I'll come back to the office when the results come in okay?" she said softly.

House nodded, unable to help the small grin from appearing on his face. He turned and quickly captured his lips with hers, much to Cameron's shock, although she quickly recovered and tightened her grip on his shoulder as his velvet lips moved against her own. House slowly pulled away to see Cameron's cheeks flushed pink, her eyes slightly dilated. "Go on, catch up to the others." He watched as she slowly let go of him and left the room. He smirked. '_Well that will be a tad noticeable._'

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When Cameron caught up with Foreman, Chase and Marcus, they all glanced at her, seeing her flushed face but nobody mentioned anything. When Marcus's phone suddenly rang Cameron quickly shook her head and held out her hand.

"I need my phone." Marcus objected as it still rang in his hand.

"I'm sorry, it's against hospital policy. There's a phone in your room that you can use." She said as he reluctantly gave it to her and she placed it in her lab coat pocket.

Foreman looked down at his pants before pulling out his pager. "Emergency, sorry, we will get your tests ordered shortly but I have to go." Marcus nodded and noted that Chase's pager also too sounded and he followed Foreman back to the elevator.

"Can you get to your room okay?" Cameron asked as she placed a hand on Marcus's shoulder.

He nodded. "Your pager going off too?" he questioned.

"Yeah, I better join them. Your tests will be done today." She bid him goodbye after making sure he would go back to his room and made her way to the elevator, taking the ride back up to the diagnostics floor by herself. Upon arriving at House's office she could hear Foreman arguing with him.

"Where is the emergency?" Foreman questioned as he watched House mess around with a yo-yo.

"There isn't one."

"Then, we need to go and get our patient's tests…"

"I just wanted him out of the room. We never did a full differential diagnosis." House stated simply.

Cameron scoffed. "Really House? The man is right, Tuberculosis could present in hundreds of different ways. He needs to be tested for it."

"By that logic everyone in the hospital should be tested." Chase said as he moved to sit on the couch.

Foreman rolled his eyes and sighed. "Not everyone has been exposed to it for the past twenty years like he has."

House stood from his desk chair and put his toy down. "TB takes years to kill you. Two weeks ago he was perfectly healthy, now he's got a white board full of symptoms."

Chase furrowed his brows together in thought. "Metabolic maybe?"

House smirked. "Welcome aboard the Good Ship ass kisser." He watched as Chase shot him a glare. "Nice day for a sail. Pucker up, me hearties." He watched as Cameron did her best to hide the grin threatening to show on her face before she shook her head.

"It's not metabolic. His kidney, liver and thyroid are all normal. No diabetes either."

"What about his heart?" Foreman questioned.

Chase nodded in agreement. "Abnormal heart rhythm; white form showed P-R variability."

"It's subtle, but it's there." House agreed.

"Sick sinus syndrome?" Cameron guessed.

House nodded. "Loose throttle, sometimes beats too fast, sometimes too slow, causing him to pass out."

Cameron moved towards House's office door. "It would account for the episode. I'll put him on telemetry; do a stress test and an echocardiogram."

"I want him treated like every other patient. Let me see his pasty ass hanging out of that paper thin gown." House said. His team all rolled their eyes and left his office, leaving House to sit back down in his desk chair and rub his leg before popping a Vicodin into his mouth and grab for his Gameboy.


	13. Chapter 13

**Here's the next chapter for you guys, my lovely readers! I cannot believe that this story has over 2000 reads! It's so exciting that this story is liked so well. As always please follow and PLEASE review! It's your reviews that keep me writing! (That and a certain diagnostician with a limp.. *wink*)**

Cameron smirked to herself when she came into Marcus's room to collect him for his stress test. She watched as he stood up and tried to get his gown to cooperate with him before he finally looked at her with a huff. '_House would have a field day_.' She thought.

"Could you help me with this?" he asked. Cameron nodded and he turned his back to her so she could tie the gown together in the correct places. "I don't recall asking for a stress test or an echocardiogram." He said.

Cameron nodded as she had him sit in a wheelchair. "What are you going to do, walk out refusing treatment? Corporate sponsors won't like that." Cameron moved to prepare a syringe. "I need your forearm."

Marcus held out his arm to her and she prepared to give him a shot. "What's House thinking?" he asked.

"He's thinking that it could be sick sinus syndrome."

"That's a lot more serious than TB." Marcus replied, watching as Cameron stuck him in the arm. "Is that a PPD?" he questioned.

Cameron nodded, "If it changes color in the next forty eight hours,"

"If House thinks that it isn't TB then why is he testing for it?"

Cameron shrugged. "To cover all his bases I presume."

Marcus scoffed. "Yeah… he doesn't seem like the type of guy to do that sort of thing." This made Cameron smile.

"We have you scheduled for an Echo at eleven." Cameron replied as she grasped the handles of his wheelchair and led him out of his room and towards the elevator.

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House and Wilson stood in the elevator as they both made the descent downward. 'Ugh, I hate the clinic.' House thought before he looked over to Wilson, tired of the silence. "Every minute that we refuse to love one another, another puppy cries another tear."

Wilson snorted and rolled his eyes. "You're just jealous that he's closer to a Nobel than you are."

"Yet I've nailed more Swedish babes, crazy, crazy world we live in."

"Hmm, what does Cameron think of that?" he asked getting a glare in response, which made him chuckle. "It's not just Stockholm, you know. It comes with a cash prize too."

House chuckled. "Seriously? No wonder everyone's going after that peace thing." He said sarcastically as the elevator dinged and they both stepped out into the lobby and they began to walk towards the clinic.

"The man cures thousands of people every year, you cure, what? thirty? Forty?" Wilson asked.

House raised an eyebrow at Wilson. "Burger King makes a better hamburger than your mother because they make more?"

Wilson raised his eyebrows and nodded, "Ahh, I get it now, you don't like the man because the lives you save are better than the ones that you save."

They both walked in the front doors of the clinic and House grabbed the top folder on the nurse's station before he turned to Wilson. "Sure, that's the reason. Nobel invented dynamite. I won't accept his blood money." Wilson rolled his eyes and grabbed his own file before he walked off. House opened the file that he held before he announced the name on it out loud and walked into the nearest open exam room.

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It was an hour later when House emerged through the clinic doors after finally seeing the last patient that he needed to see for the day. '_Ignorant people I swear…_' He huffed and looked towards the elevators to see Foreman walking up to him.

"The stress test came back normal." Forman said as he gave him the paper that held the results.

House looked over the papers he was given. "His EKG didn't come back normal though."

"His echo was normal."

"Two for you, only one for me… we need a tie breaker here."

"The echo and stress test are more reliable to go by." Foreman took the papers back from House and they both began to make their way to the elevators.

"What about a tilt-table test?"

Foreman shook his head. "That test normally never works."

House smirked as the elevator dinged and they both stepped inside. "I bet you a week's worth of clinic duty that the test works."

Foreman laughed, "Oh you're on."

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House and Foreman sat in a windowed room while Marcus sat in a connecting treatment room, strapped to a table that slowly moved from horizontal to vertical. "So do you like this guy?" House asked as he watched the patient move back and forth.

"You've always told us that our opinion of a patient is irrelevant." Foreman replied.

"Medically it is irrelevant… that says something though… about you I mean."

"So you figure that anyone that gives a crap about people in Africa must be full of it? Is that it?"

"Yes, you caught me." House said. "There's an evolutionary imperative why we give a crap about our family and friends, there's also an evolutionary imperative why we don't give a crap about anyone else. If we loved all people indiscriminately, we couldn't function." He explained.

Forman nodded. "So you're thinking the great humanitarian's as selfish as the rest of us." They both watched as Marcus continued to move up and down on the table.

"He's just not being honest about it."

Foreman looked down at the stats for Marcus and read his vitals along with the EKG that he was connected to. "You also always tell us motives are irrelevant." Foreman leaned forward a bit to push the button that would connect him to the other room, so he could speak with the patient. "Dr. Grady, your heart's handling the changes in orientation just fine. No pauses on your EKG." Foreman chuckled, thinking that the bet was his for the win.

House looked down at the table in front of him. "What does this knobby thing a ma-bob do?" he asked before he reached for it and turned it up in speed by a few clicks.

Foreman rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat. "I'm well within range for the test."

House turned the knob up again, causing Marcus to move up and down on the table rapidly. "The way I figure is, if this could show you any problems at six, imagine what could happen if you crank it to ten."

On the table, Marcus struggled to stay oriented. "House?" he called out. "Is that you?"

"Does the dial go to eleven?" House asked as he reached for it again, only to get his hand slapped away by Foreman.

"Would you stop? You lost. I'm scheduled for clinic duty Thursday and Friday, feel free to take over both of those days." House smirked and reached for the knob again.

Meanwhile in the other room Marcus had begun to feel dizzy. "All right, I'm beginning to feel nauseous."

Foreman slapped House's hand away again. "Would you stop before you break the damn thing?"

Marcus called out again. "Alright, I'm beginning to get dizzy and I'm going to pass out."

House looked down at the monitor and grinned. "I win."

Foreman scoffed. "At those speeds astronauts even throw up."

House shook his head. "I'm not talking about the nausea." He stated as he pointed at the monitor causing Foreman to nod and begin to slow Marcus down while House left the room.

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After the test Foreman stood in Marcus's room and looked over the paperwork before he looked down at Marcus in his bed. "The test we did revealed a problem."

Marcus glared at him. "Oh really? That House is insane? What he just did –"

"Was abusive and unprofessional." Foreman finished. "But if he hadn't done it, we wouldn't have seen the problem. You have an abnormal P-R interval. It could be dangerous and possibly fatal, particularly if you're in Africa away from advanced medicine." He explained.

"I… I'll need a pacemaker?" Marcus questioned.

"We have you scheduled for this afternoon to go in for the surgery."

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That afternoon Cameron wheeled Marcus to the elevator and pushed the button to wait for the machine to come to their floor. Cameron glanced down at him before she decided to explain more about his pacemaker that he would be receiving. "You'll be able to maintain your pacemaker from anywhere; you just need to get yourself to a phone line every few months."

Marcus looked up at her and grinned. "Or, you could just join me at one of my clinics that I go to." He said openly.

'_Did I just hear that correctly?_' Cameron thought as she looked down at him. "I-I'm kind of spoiled." She answered, trying to brush his suggestion off.

"Well, we could get you a hut with a view, do you like sand?" he asked.

Cameron let out a breath, "I mean medically, No PET scans, no MRIs…" She paused when Marcus stood from his wheelchair.

"This is ridiculous." He said with a sigh.

"Marcus, please sit back down."

"I know, I know, hospital regulations. Darling –"he called to an older woman walking by with a walker and pointed to the wheelchair he got up from. "– have a seat." He then looked to Cameron with a wide smile. "Come on, it cannot be that far to take the stairs." Cameron warily followed Marcus to the door of the stairs and watched as he opened the door and she followed him inside. "I'm sure you would adapt to being there. Which way?"

"Um, the basement." She replied. The then both began to walk down a flight of stairs.

"All right. You might find that without the technological crutches you become a better diagnostician. My heart can handle this, right?" He questioned as he turned to look at her when they came to the first landing.

Cameron smiled at him. "So far it's just the carnival rides that seem to set you off."

Marcus turned to face Cameron. "When you meet these people it-it changes you. We should talk about it over dinner." He said his voice hopeful.

Cameron looked at him with wide eyes. "Are you asking me to Africa or on a date?" she questioned, her voice a tad harsher than she meant for it to be.

Marcus raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, I can ask you halfway across the world but I can't ask you to a restaurant a block away?"

Cameron cleared her throat. "Well… one would be for work, the other… um… I'm kind of seeing someone."

"Kind of?"

"W-we haven't really put a label on things just yet, but we have been on a couple of dates and things have been going well."

Marcus nodded. "Well then… um, that's good. But my offer to Africa still stands, which you haven't answered by the way." He said with a grin, only to stutter to a stop and hold his head. "I'm sorry, my head is killing me."

"Sit down on the step." She said softly, helping him sit before sitting beside him and checked his pulse.

"So, are you going to answer me?" he asked.

Cameron ignored his question. "Your heart rate is normal."

"Of course it's normal, it was only one flight of stairs." He chuckled as he looked down. "My vision is a bit blurry…" Marcus's voice waivered suddenly before he fell forward and got sick. Cameron caught him by this shoulder only for them to both fall forward, Marcus landing on top of her.

"Second floor stairwell!" Cameron yelled, hoping someone would hear her. "Call a code!" she was glad when she heard the door burst open above her and she spotted nurses running down the stairs to their aide.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello lovelies! Here's the next chapter for you guys that are following Greg and Ally's story. I know that it's a tad short but by the time you guys will be reading this chapter, I will already be working on the next one. As always, please follow and review!**

Cameron Foreman, and Chase walked into House's office and Chase held up a paper for House to see. "You were wrong, the abnormality was real." Chase said before he handed over the paper for House to read.

"It's not sick sinus syndrome like we thought." Cameron clarified.

House shifted in his seat before he put the paper on his desk. "Well, thank God we found out before we put the pacemaker in. And thank God you dragged him into a stairwell to get his heart racing." He gave a pointed look to Cameron, whom narrowed her eyes at him.

Chase looked between the two but he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to get into the argument that he could feel brewing as tension in the room rose.

"We were just taking the stairs to the basement; the stairwell is kind of where they keep those." Cameron answered sarcastically.

Chase rolled his eyes, unable to help himself. "Hey, the guy's still sick. Can we talk about that? The headaches and dizziness point to a neurological problem, acoustic neuroma. Brian tumor causes dizziness, loss of consciousness, messes with breathing patterns, heart rhythms …" Chase began to explain, only to be interrupted by House.

House nodded at Chase. "Get an MRI." Suddenly his phone rings and House quickly leaned over to answer it. "Hello? Oh, I'm sorry, I'll be right down. No problem, I'll do an extra hour to make up. I'm late for my clinic duty." House smirked and grabbed his nametag off his desk and tossed it to Foreman. "Here, go be me for a couple hours."

Foreman rolled his eyes, knowing he'd lost the bet they had made earlier, and left with House's nametag in hand while Chase went into the adjoining room to chill out until he'd be needed.

Cameron sat in the seat across from House's desk, noting House's stiff posture. "I swear to you House, he didn't want to wait for the elevator and wanted to take the stairs. HE even had an older lady with a walker sit in the wheelchair I had him in."

House looked at Cameron and turned in his chair to look on his computer. '_Yeah, you swear that it was all him, but why do you blush when he talks to you?_' He questioned himself.

Cameron huffed and stood. She walked around his desk and grabbed the arm of his chair and pulled him around to face her, placing both arms on either arm rest, trapping him in his seat. "Greg… I would not jeopardize what we have… you have to know that."

House looked up and met Cameron's eyes and couldn't see deception within them. He let out a sigh and nodded, not able to find his voice to be able to answer her. '_But what do we have?_' he asked in his mind, too uncomfortable to say it aloud.

"I'm going to go set up Marcus for that MRI and hopefully figure out what's going on with him. We'll talk tonight if you want okay?" she asked quietly. Only getting a nod again in response, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead, then his cheek before she kissed the corner of his mouth. He tilted so she would meet his lips instead and she let him deepen the kiss for a few moments before she pulled away with a smile. "I'll be back if we find anything." She said before she stood and left his office. '_At least he's still responsive._'

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Cameron and Chase looked on as they started the MRI machine and watched the screens in the adjoining room. Cameron was finding it hard to keep things in and she let out an audible sigh. "He asked me out." She stated aloud.

Chase raised an eyebrow. "Who, Marcus?" he asked. At seeing her nod in response, both of Chase's eyebrows raised. "I'm shocked." He said. "I'm shocked when patients don't ask you out." He added, causing Cameron to turn and narrow her eyes at him before she returned to watching the screens.

"He also asked me if I wanted to go to Africa."

"Wow… the man moves fast… have you told House?" Chase asked.

"I would think that the two questions are for different objectives. But no, I haven't told House. He already thinks that something happened in the stairwell."

"Well… do you like the guy?" Chase questioned.

Cameron paused, "Well… he's a good looking guy, really cares about the world, a great doctor…"

"So you do like him. I've seen you turn a bit pink when he talks to you. I take it that you said no though."

Cameron sighed. "I didn't answer him at all honestly."

"Well, the man's not House."

That caused Cameron to chuckle. "No… no he's not." Cameron zoomed in on the screen before she pointed at it. "Looks like there's a spot on his arm."

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Cameron went back to House's office with the results. Cameron watched as House stood when she entered, leaning against his cane. "Did I ask you to put a PPD on him?" House questioned.

"It ended up positive House, he has TB." Cameron countered, crossing her arms over her chest.

House rolled his eyes. "Of course he's got TB! The guy's been in the jungle for 20 years! If he tested positive for pink-eye would you think that was his big problem? Would that satisfy you?" He asked incredulously.

"I did a test and it ended up positive, why is that such a problem?" Cameron questioned.

"Because now he's got the big red target on his arm, the stubborn jerk thinks he's right! He won't let us do any more tests." House replied earnestly, his voice raising an octave.

"Well, maybe he's not the only stubborn jerk." Cameron scoffed when House pointed at himself. "Yes I mean you… I also did an LP he has low glucose and he has an increased sed rate. Everything screams that he has tuberculosis!" She hollered, getting frustrated at him.

House shook his head and tossed his cane to the floor before he leaned against his desk. "Not everything." He growled.

Cameron sighed and shook her head as she bent down and grabbed his cane which had landed at her feet. "If any of the symptoms are caused by the TB it would throw off our diagnosis and we wouldn't be able to treat him correctly and you know that."

House nodded and let his tense shoulders go lax. "You're right. Treat the TB."

Cameron smiled, knowing that she had gotten through to him about the subject. She walked up to him and placed his cane on top of his desk, having to reach around him to do so. "I know I'm right." She said, a smirk appearing on her face.

House chuckled and slowly pulled her to him by the front of her lab coat before he wrapped his arms around her waist. "This time." He said, his own smirk appearing on his face before he leaned down to kiss her gently.


	15. Chapter 15

**Here's the next chapter for everyone! I cannot believe how popular this tory has become and I love working on it for you guys... I know it's following the show pretty hardcore right now, but I promise that will be changing when we get to a certain part alright? I hope you enjoy this chapter! please follow, share and review! I love hearing from my readers.**

Wilson sat at his usual table in the hospital's cafeteria when he spotted House coming over to him. He politely smiled at his longtime friend when he sat across from him. "So…" he started. "It's TB but it's not TB?" he questioned.

House tucked into his seat and opened his sandwich to check and make sure that there weren't any pickles. "It's complicated."

Wilson pushed his salad around a bit on his plate. "The guy does know how tuberculosis works."

House scoffed. "He's not even a real doctor." He said sarcastically before he returned the bread to his sandwich and took a bite. "He's a human telethon."

Wilson raised an eyebrow at him. "What's your deal with him? You see hypocrites every day, why is this guy so special?"

"You think I have a hypocritical attitude to hypocrisy? The problem is there are 26 letters in the alphabet and he only uses two of them." House leaned back in his seat for a moment and took another bite of his food. "He treats thousands of patients with one diagnosis and already knows the answer to those patients. It's cheating."

"So… it's because he's a useless specialist?" Wilson asked.

"Did I hurt the big time oncologist's itty bitty feelings?" House asked, giving him a pouty faced look. "You're a big help to patients who actually have cancer. Other times you're just annoying."

Wilson smirked. "Was that actually a compliment?" he asked before he chuckled. "Cameron is already rubbing off on you and it's only been a couple of weeks."

House rolled his eyes. "I'm not that soft." He grumbled. This only made Wilson smile wider. "What?" he asked.

Wilson shook his head. "Nothing, nothing… I just see a little bit of a difference in you is all."

House sighed and continued eating his sandwich in silence, wanting to glare at Wilson for the comment but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

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Cameron knocked on Marcus's room before she slid the sliding glass door open with a smile. "Hi there." She said politely.

"Hey." Marcus replied, instantly smiling in return. He watched as Cameron placed a tiny cup on Marcus's tray table. "Levofloxacin?" he questioned, the look on his face instantly changing to concern.

"You have a resistant strain of TB."

Marcus scoffed, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline. "Wow… you guys just walk in with these." He said as he emptied the tiny cup on the tray.

Cameron shrugged. "Were doctors, it's what we do."

Marcus stared at the pills in front of him. "You know, there's parts of the world where you get knifed walking around with this. I mean, regular stuff's bad enough, but treatment for the resistant strain?" He holds up one of the pills and turns it over in his fingers. "I could get $6 a tablet for this one and I'd take it for two years." He put down that one and picked up another. "Streptomycin, now that's two grand… ten grand for all of these to cure one person." He sighed and put the pill down and continued to stare at them. "I had a patient in Jani once, a mother, had three little boys. She had resistant TB and couldn't afford these pills. She couldn't even afford bread. We gave her the regular stuff and did what we could do for her, but no surprise she died."

Cameron watched him, her face full of remorse. "I-I… I'm sorry." She watched as he continued to stare at the medication and began to shake his head at her.

"I'm not taking these pills." He scooped them all up into one hand and put them back in the tiny cup on his tray before he looked up at Cameron.

"What?" she asked incredulously, "Why? Just because she couldn't get the pills you won't take them?"

"Why?" Marcus asked, looking cross. "Because I'm better than she was?"

"Letting her die was wrong." Cameron said sternly, "But letting you die is just as wrong."

Marcus shrugged his shoulders at her and pushed the pills away from him as far as he could. "Maybe I won't die like she did… if I do, maybe someone will pay attention to my story."

Cameron huffed and shook her head before she hesitantly took the pills off his tray to place them on the medi-cart within his room before she turned and left, shutting his door behind her.

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Cameron stood in the middle of House's office surrounded by her team and her boss. She shook her head, frustrated at their patient. "He figures the pharmaceuticals need something big to force them into action. This'll get a lot more media play than a thousand African villagers dying." She growled out when the phone began to ring on House's desk.

Chase leaned over to check the caller ID on the phone, happening to be sitting in House's chair, "It's News Journal!" He exclaimed, his eyebrows reaching his hairline.

House rolled his eyes but hid the smirk that was trying to appear on his face. "So he's refusing to take the pills?" he asked, ignoring the phone.

Chase looked at House almost bug-eyed. "News Journal is calling you!" he admonished.

House kept his eyes on Cameron. "He also won't take any more tests…" he declared.

Cameron shrugged. "The man has is diagnoses, he doesn't see any reason to fight."

House narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you see what happens now when you don't listen to me?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

Cameron looked down at the carpeted floor before she looked back at House. "Maybe he could save millions of lives…"

House sat back in his seat. "Yeah, that's my point. Increased heart rate, night sweats, loss of consciousness… besides rough sex, what do they all have in common?" he questioned everyone around him.

Cameron instantly spoke up, "It's T.."

"It's not TB!" House quickly interrupted, raising his voice. He could feel himself getting more irritated as he tapped his cane against the floor.

Chase leaned forward as the phone finally quit ringing, and put his elbows on House's desk in thought. "His autonomic nervous system?"

Foreman shook his head, "We know it's not a brain tumor."

Cameron looked over at him from her spot against the wall. "Then what else could be eating at his nerves?"

Chase sighed as the phone began to ring again. "

Fabray's, autonomic dysregulation syndrome, shy-dragger syndrome, it doesn't matter. He won't let us test him." He said. It was then that House stood up from his seat and picked up the phone to answer it.

"In my opinion, Dr. Marcus Grady is an idiot... Yeah, you can quote me… C-u-d-d-y." House said before he hung up the phone to Chase and Foreman snickering to themselves at his comment.

Cameron smiled at House when he sat back down in his seat on the couch. "Really?" she questioned.

"What?" he asked, barely concealing a chuckle.

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It wasn't long until House had ended up in Cuddy's office to try and get permission to continue to do tests on Marcus. He stood in front of her desk and watched as Cuddy put some papers in a folder before she pulled her hair up in a ponytail. "My patient is refusing lifesaving treatment."

Cuddy looked up at House from her paperwork. "He's refusing the treatment for TB. You don't think that he has TB, so why should you care?" she asked.

"He refuses to let me do any testing."

"What am I supposed to do about that?"

"You could hold him down for me." Cuddy sighed and looked up at him from the paper she'd been writing on. "Look, the guy is killing himself, am I the only one who realizes this is a bad thing?" he asked. Cuddy checked her phone and stood from her desk to put on lipstick. "You're putting on make-up. That's not a good sign for my side, is it?"

"Marcus has called for a press conference at four. He wants me to be there to confirm his diagnosis and prognosis." She replied.

"Oh c'mon… you're just as big a media whore as he is."

Cuddy stepped around her desk and rolled her eyes at him. "Oh sure, It couldn't _possibly_ be that I think he's right and I'd like to be a small part of what he's doing." She said smugly.

House smirked at Cuddy's brashness. "Oh, whores can like the sex. Doesn't mean they're not whores… and with that eye shadow…" House sighed. "I am totally screwed, aren't I?"

Cuddy let herself smile at him and patted him on the shoulder. "Totally." She said before she left him standing in her office.


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm a couple of days late on posting this chapter but that's alright... I love all my new follows for this story! I'm so happy of the following that it has received... It won't be long until this case will wrap up... I wonder what will be next for Greg and Ally... **

Cameron walked into Marcus's room and walked up to stand beside his bed. "How're you feeling?" she asked politely.

Marcus grinned at her. "I'm a little weak but I'm okay."

Cameron grinned in return. "You're having a good day. The symptoms will quickly start to focus more on your lungs, you'll find it difficult to talk and eventually breathe at all." She said, trying to guilt him into wanting to take the medication that would save his life.

Marcus just shrugged. "I've been around this disease for quite a while. I know that I have to look forward to."

"I know that." Cameron said. "I just came here to try and see if you'd be willing to accept any treatment."

Marcus quickly shook his head. "No, if you're trying to scare me it—"

Cameron quickly cut him off. "No, palliative treatment, narcotics — Fentanyl patch, morphine drip — whatever it takes." She quickly said. "We can make your last days fairly comfortable."

Marcus reached up and grasped Cameron's hand and squeezed it gently. "Thank you."

Having noticed the scene when House had decided to drop by to see his patient, he shook his head and entered the room. "You want third world treatment?" he asked loudly as he walked to the wall and turned up the thermostat, making the air shut off to Marcus's room. "We can give you third world treatment… boy is it hot in here…"

Cameron looked at House, her eyebrows raised. "House, what are you doing?" she asked him as she pulled her hand out of Marcus's grasp.

"What am I doing?" House asked while he walked up to Marcus's bed and suddenly knocked everything that sat on his table tray onto the floor. "I'm putting everything on the floor of the hut." He said triumphantly.

Cameron crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "So you think he's a hypocrite is that it?" she asked.

House proceeded to walk over to the tv and unplug it from the wall. "Hypocrite? No, everyone in Africa's got cell phones or running water." House moved to grab a cellphone that sat on the counter and dropped it into the toilet. "Well now this will just not flush." He said sarcastically as he turned to face Cameron and Marcus once more.

"Do you really think that if you come in here and make it a little hot, make it smell, that I'm just going to fold and abandon everything that matters to me?" Marcus askes, training his brown eyes to meet House's blue angrily.

Cameron looked back and forth between the men and let out a sigh. '_Why is everything a damn match of who can be better than who?_' She questioned to herself.

"You are not the same as them; your life is not the same. And you are cheapening everything they're going through by pretending you are." House said sternly as he pointed his cane at Marcus for a moment before he placed it back down to hold his weight again.

Marcus narrowed his eyes. "I am the same, I'm not special, there's no difference between them and me."

House rolled his eyes, his frustration evident in the lines on his forehead. "You can't demand to be treated like any third-world sick person and call a press conference!" he yelled.

"They treat me special!" Marcus yelled back, pointing his arm outside the door of his room. "That doesn't mean I am! Now what kind of selfish jerk wouldn't take advantage of that fact?"

House sighed and shook his head before he looked at Cameron and tilted his head towards the door, which caused her to silently leave the room with him right behind her. It wasn't until they both stood in the elevator that House decided to speak again. "What was that?" he asked as he looked down at Cameron.

"What was what?"

"The hand holding…"

"He was just saying thank you when I told him we could keep him comfortable for his last days, that's all."

"Are you sure?" he asked. He gently reached up to grasp her elbow and turned her to face him. "You don't really hide the fact that you think he's attractive."

Cameron sighed and looked up at House, meeting his eyes. "House, yes the man is attractive. But there's nothing there… he's not you." Cameron watched a small grin tug at the edge of House's lips when the ding of the elevator caused House to break eye contact and let go of her arm as he walked out of the large machine, with her right behind him.

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It wasn't long until House sat in his office with Wilson sitting beside him as they both stared at the tv that House kept in his office, watching the press conference that Marcus was holding.

"It's all preventable." Marcus stated, sitting up high in his bed. "Stoia Tucker makes medications right here, in New Jersey. They have warehouses full of the stuff; there's more than enough to go around." Marcus began to hold up photos of children back in Africa to help his point. "So if I can get them, why can't Lemma? Why can't Quesmo? And why can't Sarni?"

House rolled his eyes as he stared at the screen while Wilson looked closely at Marcus. "It must be hot as hell under all of those lights."

"Yup." House replied as he watched Cuddy step forward to show herself on the tv.

"X-rays are negative, so he's not contagious at this point, his condition's currently stable –" Cuddy was saying on tv, but Wilson decided to interrupt to talk to House once more.

"So… how are you and Cameron?" he asked.

House looked over at his longtime friend. "What do you mean?"

Wilson shrugged. "I'm not meaning anything bad… just asking."

"We're… alright I'm guessing."

"Just alright?" Wilson questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Have you two made it official yet?" he asked.

House shook his head and leaned forward to slap the side of the tv. "Not yet." He grumbled. '_I probably need to do that though._' He thought.

"What are you doing?" Wilson asked when House slapped the side of the tv a couple more times.

House smirked. "Testing the patient's autonomic nervous system."

Wilson rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Of course you are."

House furrowed his brows. "His internal heating and ventilation should be off, shouldn't be able to sweat. That's why he's got that awful body powder. Take it away, crank up the heat, stick him under the lights and he can't cool himself. He should be turning bright red." House stated as he stared at the screen. Marcus looked to be almost pale with only slight redness around his eyes and cheeks.

"The picture's fine." Wilson said, only to watch House suddenly stand and grab his cane before leaving the room.

Back in Marcus's room Marcus continued on with his conference, "I'm asking Stoia Tucker to save these lives, millions of lives including my own." It was then that House barged into the room and walked up to Marcus's bed. "House, I would appreciate it if you left us alone." Marcus said, only for House to put a bright light in Marcus's face, the bright light making Marcus see spots. "Please get that out of my face." Marcus almost growled, frustrated.

Cuddy sighed. "What are you trying to prove House?" she questioned. While back in House's office Foreman had joined Wilson and they were both sharing chips as they watched everything go down.

Marcus looked over at House weakly, "House, please leave the room."

"He's sweating like a pig." House said, causing Cuddy to narrow her eyes at him and Cameron to speak up.

"It's at least a hundred degrees in here House; you turned up the thermostat…"

Marcus looked up at the ceiling, not really seeing what was in front of him. "Did the media hear me?" he asked, "Did they listen?"

House narrowed his eyes. "He's disoriented."

"The-they need to hear me." Marcus mumbled as he slowly began to fade.

"His arteries are clamping down." House said as he looked up at Cuddy, a monitor beginning to beep loudly throughout the room.

"Get everyone out of this room, NOW!" Cuddy hollered as Cameron and Chase quickly moved to push people from the room, trying to stop the tv crew from filming any longer.

"Get a crash cart!" House yelled, "He's crashing, cardiac arrest!" Marcus's monitors began to beep wildly.

Cuddy turned to see people still in the room. "I said get them out!" she called as nurses rushed into the room and Cameron reached to grab for the paddles to shock Marcus.

"C'mon…" Cameron said as she placed the paddles on Marcus's chest. "Clear!" she called before she shocked once, checking his monitor. "Damn it, c'mon Marcus." She said as she prepared to shock him again.

House looked around and noticed a camera that was still recorded before he walked up to it and pointed back at Marcus. "That is NOT TB!"

Back in House's office Wilson and Foreman sat still eating on chips. "Compelling television." Wilson said with a smirk, getting a chuckle from Foreman.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter for you guys! I cannot believe the many follows and reviews that I've gotten in the last few days! I love every single one and I always respond to every one of you your reviews. I'm so happy that you guys love this story as much as I do. Without further rambling to you guys, Happy Reading! **

Marcus was revived and was currently resting in his room. It had been a couple of hours since the incident and the room was free of cameras and House had decided to check in on his patient. As soon as House shut the door behind him, Marcus began to speak.

"Y-you can do any tests that you want."

House raised an eyebrow at him. "I still want to treat you for TB. Dr. Cameron has found low sugar in your cerebrospinal fluid. It's a classic finding of TB."

"Oh, so now you think that TB is the issue?" Marcus questioned.

House shook his head. "Nope." He walked up and checked over Marcus's monitors and vitals. "If TB caused cardiac arrest on a hot day, your work in Africa would be even more futile than it already is."

Marcus sighed. "What's your point House?"

House turned and grabbed the tiny cup of pills and put it on the tray in front of Marcus. "The white board in my office, we're up to about a dozen symptoms now. The cardiac arrest is clearly not TB. But the CSF sugar clearly is TB. The rest of the symptoms could go either way unless we know which ones are connected to the TB which means I currently can't diagnose you without treating it first."

Marcus stared at the little cup and took a few long deep breaths before he shook his head and looked back up at House. "I will do any other tests or treatments that you prescribe but this."

House sighed. "So, you aren't special but TB is?"

"People only die of TB because it's our choice to let them." Marcus countered.

"People die of malaria because we let them, they die of dysentery…" House countered back, only to be interrupted.

"TB is my disease."

House scoffed. "Oh really? So you own a disease now?" he asked incredulously.

Marcus closed his eyes and took a few breaths as he shook his head before he focused back on House, whom stood at the foot of his bed. "Look, I know I have a way about me. I know I piss a lot of people off. But you're the first person that I've ever met who I think is actually annoyed by what I do. Do you think I'm not saving any lives, or is that a bad thing?"

House took a step forward and braced his arms on the footboard of Marcus's bed. "Right now all I'm trying to do is save your life."

Marcus didn't seem to listen to House's words. "Or do you just have a problem with hope?" he continued, making House roll his eyes. "You know, the difference between our jobs is not numbers or style. It's that I know I'm going to fail. Even if I save a million people there's going to be another million to treat. You couldn't handle that and I think you resent anyone who can."

"Can't we just agree that you're incredibly annoying?" House growled and lets out a long breath as he looks into Marcus's eyes, not breaking eye contact, trying a last ditch effort to get to him. "Take the pills or I let you die, do an autopsy, call my own press conference, and make sure the world knows that you didn't die of TB. Your corporate sponsors will be disappointed, but they'll find another disease to sponsor."

Marcus's face went from calm to reluctant as he looked at the cup then back at the man that stood in front of him. "Why do you do that?"

House smirked. "Because I'm just a mean son of a bitch." He said sternly before he turned and walked out of the room, closing the sliding door behind him.

Marcus stared at the tiny cup for what felt like hours to him, but it was only a few minutes. He took a deep breath before he grabbed the cup and downed the pills dry.

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It was two long weeks of Marcus finally taking his pills daily. The team continuously crossed off symptoms from the white board as they disappeared, the TB being treated effectively, on its way to being cured. House currently stood in front of his white board in the diagnostic office and sighed. "So we still have to explain P-R variability, syncope, headaches, and… low sugar?" House questioned. '_Low sugar is so… random_.' He thought.

Foreman stared at the white board, perplexed. "That symptom was classic TB."

Chase shrugged. "Apparently not."

"Have you re-run the test?" Cameron asked.

Chase nodded. "Yep."

House nodded. "This is a good thing." He exclaimed as he looked over at his team.

Foreman raised an eyebrow. "Good? This is just weird… bizarre."

"Bizarre is a good thing. Common has a million treatments and explanations, bizarre, not so much." House explained.

Chase shrugged. "Well what else could cause low CSF sugar?"

House pointed over at Chase suddenly. "Uh-uh. I get to ask the questions. I've found you look a lot smarter asking the questions than dumbly not answering them." He watched as his team looked at him all with confused looks on their faces.

"High insulin levels in the blood?" Foreman guessed.

Cameron shook her head. "They'd have to be really high."

"Okay… very high insulin levels?"

Cameron rolled her eyes. "How would he get high insulin levels? We check his blood sugar daily and they have been normal every time."

House smirked. "See how smart she looks?" he asked. "It's because she asked the question." He watched as she did her best to hide a slight blush from everyone, which only made him grin.

Cameron continued on with the facts that she knew about their case. "It's not glaucoma because he doesn't have a rash. It's not self-induced because he's not an idiot, and it's not a tumor because the CT and the MRI were both negative."

House nodded. "Which only leaves it to be a tumor." He stated as he turned and left the office, his team all quickly jumbling to follow behind him.

"Why do you always do this?" Cameron asked him as she caught up first. "It's like you don't even listen to what I said."

House turned his head to look down at her. "I listened." He said softly. "It's still a tumor," He said louder, so the other teammates could hear him. "A tiny tumor, super small, so small that we can't even see the little bugger. A Nesidioblastoma."

Foreman furrowed his brows confused as they all waited for the elevator. "An abnormal growth of the insulin-secreting glands of his pancreas?" he questioned. It wasn't long before the elevator dinged and everyone stepped inside.

Chase shrugged. "It only releases insulin intermittently."

House nodded as he pressed the button for all of them to go down. "It responds to stress. Like if, oh, I don't know… if someone accidentally puts the mechanical bull on eleven."

"Like when you turned the dial up on the vaulting table test." Foreman stated.

"Exactly."

Cameron held up a hand. "Except… if it's so small that we can't see it, how do we prove that it's the problem?" The elevator dinged again and everyone filed out, following House.

House smirked as he glanced down at her. "She asked, looking oh so clever," Which made Cameron smile. "How do you prove something exists when you can't see it? Does God exist? Does the wind blow?" House turned and asked, now facing his team.

"We know the wind blows because the leaves move." Foreman answered. House nodded.

"Look for effects." He said simply, before turning and leading his team onward again.

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Later that evening they had Marcus laying on an OR table surrounded by House and his team, set up to find the glad that was responsible for all of the symptoms. House moved so that he was in Marcus's view. "We believe that you have a tumor. It's easily removed by surgery but we have to find it first… so we're going to poke it with a stick."

"If there isn't a tumor?" Marcus asked.

"Then nothing will happen." House answered. House nodded towards Chase to start the procedure. "Splenic artery, it's a hard left off the celiac." He watched as Chase nodded and proceeded to move the tube they had inserted, into the artery.

What if there is a tumor?" Marcus asked.

House looked back down at Marcus from watching the screen. "What usually happens when you poke something with a stick? It pokes back."

"Chase is stuck in the mesenteric." Cameron stated, having not stopped looking at the screen.

House rolled his eyes, "I knew that we should have stopped and asked for directions… men." He said with a small smirk, doing his best to keep the mood light.

"I'm there." Chase suddenly said, knowing he was in the correct area where the glad was located.

"We're going to inject calcium into your pancreas. The beta cells will release insulin. If there are too many beta cells because of a tumor, your blood sugar will drop precipitously." House explained.

"How do you know that it won't go too low?" he asked.

House looked down at Marcus again. "By crossing our fingers and toes." He turned and looked over at Chase. "Give him the dose." He watched as Chase injected him with the first dose of Calcium.

Cameron looked over the monitors and kept track of the screen that let them see where Chase was within the artery. "His glucose is holding at seventy five."

"Hmm, no leaves rustling… blow harder." House said as he looked over at Chase.

"I already gave him one amp." Chase said.

"Then give him another." He watched as Chase removed the empty syringe from the tube and attach new one before he slowly gave him another dose.

"It's starting to drop." Cameron said. "Fifty… now forty five,"

"My-my arm's shaking." Marcus said softly as he looked down at his body as best as he could from his position.

"He's going to need a glucose drip, he's going to seize." Foreman said, finally speaking up.

House shook his head. "No, not yet."

"He's continuing to drop." Foreman retaliated.

"Not fast enough." Marcus's monitors began to beep as his glucose dropped to forty.

"We need to reverse this." Chase said sternly.

"He's starting to seize." Cameron spoke up as she placed an arm on Marcus's shoulder. "He's at forty, thirty eight, thirty five…" The monitor began to beep faster, alerting everyone.

House looked around at his team before he looked over to Chase. "Push an amp of D-50, you want to kill the guy?" he asked incredulously, watching as Chase quickly did as he asked.

Cameron let out a breath. "Back up to forty… forty five."

House looked down at Marcus as the man came to once more. "Congratulations… you have a tumor."

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Marcus's surgery was a success, he currently stood in his room as he pulled on a white button up shirt before his phone rang. "Yeah, listen, Asha, relax. I'm going to be back on Tuesday. Tell Sarni I'm going to bring her a new brace… All right." He ended the call with a small smile on his face before he turned to see Cameron walking up to him with a wheelchair and a small paper bag. "Do you have them?" he asked, referring to his TB meds.

"A six month supply, should fix you right up." She answered with a smile. "I assume that I will be seeing you for your refill I hope."

Marcus nodded. "I will return back in two months."

Cameron raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not going to give those away are you?"

Marcus chuckled. "Well, you know how these things happen, you leave a bag in the airplane, drop some pills down the drain….Hey, I have an idea. You could bring me the refill in Africa." He said his eyes hopeful.

Cameron took a deep breath. "I… don't think so. Sorry."

Marcus sighed. "You actually like working for House, you find this satisfying?" he asked. Cameron nodded. "It… it's him isn't it? The guy you're seeing?"

Cameron couldn't help but blush a tad. "It is."

"Well, he's a lucky guy." Marcus replied before he pulled Cameron into a gentle hug and left the room.

When Marcus stepped outside of the hospital media was instantly in front of him, asking questions and bantering. House sighed as he stood out on the balcony of his office with Wilson. "It isn't about saving lives at all." He grumbled. "It's all about the media and the attention."

Wilson chuckled. "That's what's been wrong all this time isn't it? That's why you don't like the guy."

House gestured out to Marcus. "Look at him, he eats it up."

"A man that actually enjoys what he does for a living…"

House rolled his eyes. "I saved the man's life, so I should get credit for every life that he saves from here on out."

Wilson chuckled. "I'll alert Stockholm." He said before he turned to walk back in House's office to see Cameron standing there. He walked up to her and patted her on the shoulder. "He's on the balcony."

Cameron took a deep breath before she quietly joined House, standing just behind him. She watched as he leaned forward on the balcony's wall, watching the media down below. "You know… your work is just as important as his." She said softly, which caused him to turn around and look at her.

"Is that right?" he asked.

Cameron smiled and nodded as she closed the gap between them, letting herself lean against him. "It is… the work that we do here… that you do. It's not easy and it's cherished by many."

House smirked softly and brought one arm out and around her to pull her tighter against him, leaving his arm around her waist. Cameron turned and rested her head in the crook of his neck, letting out a deep breath, relaxing in his arms. He looked down at her before he gently placed his lips against her temple. "So I'm guessing that you won't be going to Africa?" he murmured.

Cameron shook her head. "I'm staying here… with you." She could feel tension instantly leave House's shoulders, his frame relaxing, feeling a smile come to his face, his lips still against her head.

"Good." He said softly as he moved to stand up fully and wrap both arms around her. "I don't think that I'd like my girlfriend going half way across the world."

Cameron looked up at him in partial shock. "I never thought that I'd get to hear you say that."

House chuckled. "Get used to it." He growled before leaned down and softly touched his lips against hers.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey everyone! I'm sorry that this chapter is a little later than normal. I currently have a sick dog that I'm caring for and I have been losing sleep to keep an eye on him. But I had the time today to finally finish writing this chapter as my dog is on the mend and getting better, so I hope that you guys enjoy it! Happy reading...**

The next day Cameron arrived at the hospital to see Chase and Foreman were already seated in the diagnostics room. "Do we have a case today?" she asked as she stepped through the door.

Chase looked up from his newspaper. "Nope, we do not. To be honest, it's nice to have a bit of a break."

Cameron nodded and walked up to the counter to start preparing coffee for everyone. "It has been stressful the past couple of cases. I wouldn't mind a week or two of nothing bizarre or weird happening."

Foreman nodded as he looked up from the article he had been reading. "I'm open to just doing some old fashion clinic duty, as myself this time."

Cameron chuckled as she sat in the desk that was beside the white board and began to go through House's mail that had come in the office that morning.

When House came into the diagnostics room, he could barely keep the smile from his face. _'Everyone will know officially as of today, that we're together. Stacy be damned.'_

"Coffee should be ready any moment." Cameron said as she noticed House had walked in, only for the coffee maker to beep. "Never mind, it's ready now." She said with a small smile as she glanced up at him.

House smirked. "Thank you." He said before he walked over and grabbed his usual red mug and made himself a cup before he grabbed another and made Cameron one too. When he arrived back at the desk he sat it in front of her. "Sugar and light cream." He said simply, watching as she looked up to meet his eyes, only for him to wink at her before he walked into his office.

Foreman furrowed his brow. "What was that?" he asked.

Cameron put her mug down from taking a drink of her coffee. "What was what?"

"House."

"What about him?"

Chase smirked. "You two seem… close." He said.

Cameron shrugged. "We've gotten a bit closer since we went on a date almost a month ago."

Foreman smiled as he put down the article he'd been reading. "C'mon Cameron… you're not gonna tell us why House is in such a good mood this morning?" he asked, badgering her.

"I can hear you know?!" House called out from his office, causing Cameron to turn her head and look through the glass door, seeing House propped up at his desk.

Cameron rolled her eyes and stood her coffee in one hand and mail in the other. "You two will just have to deal with not always being in the loop." She said with a smirk before she turned and walked into House's office and handed him his mail. "You have a couple of case requests for you from a couple of hospitals." She said.

House looked up at her from his spot, his feet propped up on his desk. "As long as it's not the runt that has been hanging outside my apartment complex were good." He said as he gently took the mail from Cameron and began to open them one by one.

"Anything interesting?" Cameron asked as she decided to sit in the seat across from House's desk.

House shook his head as he quickly went through the few letters. "Nope… every one of them can be diagnosed at the hospitals the patients are admitted to." He looked up to see Cameron nod and take a sip of her coffee. "Are you alright?" he asked gently as he glanced at the men in the adjoining room through the blinds.

Cameron put her coffee mug on House's desk. "I'm alright… just wondering what you're up to." She answered with a smile.

House smirked. "Well… there is something that I could do… but I need to ask something first."

"What would that be?"

"Do you want to wait? Or would you like for everyone to know that were an item?" he asked, his smirk turning into a grin.

Cameron smiled. "Something tells me that I won't be getting a choice… but you have Chase and Foreman on a hook already."

"Oh, I know I do… I was thinking something simple, something to where our little group would know rather quickly."

Cameron furrowed her brows at him when she turned her head, hearing a knock on the glass door outside of the diagnostic's room. She watched as Chase got up to answer the door, letting a delivery man inside, holding a large bouquet of white roses in a vase. She quickly turned back at House to see a wry grin on his face.

"Stay in here a moment." He said simply before he stood up when Chase looked over at him and motioned for him to come in the other room. "What's going on? Who's this?" House asked as he entered the diagnostics room.

"This man here says you have a delivery." Chase answered.

House nodded, "Oh, that's right." He said as he gently took the clipboard from the man and signed it before returning it to him and grabbed the vase so the man could leave.

"Who're the flowers for?" Chase asked.

Foreman nodded, also curious. "You're never sentimental."

House smirked. "I'll have you know that these are for someone rather special."

Chase quirked an eyebrow and looked at Foreman, whom shrugged, before looking back at House. "Special?"

House nodded. "Cameron?" he called out, watching as the two men in front of him went slack jawed.

Cameron walked through the adjoining door to stand beside House. "Yes?" she asked.

He turned and gently held the vase in front of her. "These are for you."

Cameron felt herself flush with heat, knowing her cheeks were turning a decent shade of pink as she gently took the vase from him and held it close to her, letting the smell of the roses waft over her. "They're beautiful…"

House grinned at her, his eyes turning soft as he watched her. Meanwhile Chase and Foreman looked on, flabbergasted.

"Are you two…?" Foreman started as he pointed between them, which only cause Cameron to slightly hide behind the roses that she held.

House turned to his two male ducklings and wrapped his arm around Cameron's waist. "Together?" he asked. "I would think that to be rather obvious now." He said simply.

Both men looked at each other and back at House and Cameron before Chase moved to drop back in his seat. "So…" Chase started. "I'm guessing the date you had really did go well."

"Dates." House clarified. "We've been on more than one now…" He said smugly.

Cameron smirked behind the roses as she inhaled their sweet scent again. "These really are lovely." She said softly as she leaned against House's side. "Thank you Greg."

House looked down at her upon hearing his first name coming from her lips. "You're welcome Allison." He said gently.

A silence came over the four of them for a few moments before Cameron cleared her throat. "I'm going to go put these in your office." She said, before she turned quietly and left the room.

Foreman looked at House sternly as he watched him move to sit at the long table. "So… how long have you two been…?" he asked.

House tapped his cane on the ground a few times. "Almost a month." He answered, loving the dumbfounded look on the two men's faces, seeing slight resentment in Chase's posture. "Now… I really don't want to sit here and listen to you asking about mine and Cameron's relationship… so off to the clinic with you both." He stated firmly as he reached in his pocket and grabbed his nametag before he tossed it to Chase, who let it land in his lap. "You, be me for a while." He said simply. He looked at both of them and sighed when they didn't make a motion to get up. "Now." He said sternly, startling them both, and watched as Foreman and Chase quickly left the room and towards the elevator.

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By two o' clock that afternoon news had gone around about House and Cameron. Wilson found out when he visited House's office and noticed the flowers that sat on the desk and proceeded to ask House questions; which in turn led to Cuddy finding out because Wilson had to tell her the good news. At five House looked up from his computer to see that Chase and Foreman, back from their clinic hours, were leaving to clock out for the day. He nodded to them both and went back to his emails. It wasn't until he heard someone clear their throat that he looked up again, seeing Cuddy in front of his desk. "What did I do to receive the pleasure of your presence oh big bosomed one?"

Cuddy sighed and rolled her eyes before she crossed her arms over her chest. "Wilson told me."

"Wilson told you… what?" he asked. Cuddy nodded her head towards the roses on his desk. "Ahh, that… I promise mommy, we'll behave in the work place." He said with a smirk.

Cuddy smirked. "You better." She said with a smile as she watched him look back to his computer. She knew that Cameron was doing an extra couple hours of overtime in the clinic today, so she assumed that he was still here simply because he was waiting on her. "House?" she called gently, waiting until he was looking at her again. "I'm happy for you." Cuddy said with a smile, before she turned and left his office.

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The next morning House awoke to Wilson knocking on his apartment door while he was fixing his first cup of coffee. "It's open!" he called out, before he heard the telltale sounds of Wilson entering his home.

"I was wondering why you didn't ask Cameron yesterday to pick you up this morning." Wilson said as he entered House's small kitchen.

House shrugged. "She had some sort of appointment this morning." He answered, getting a nod in response from Wilson.

"Well in any case, we better get a move on; I think Cuddy might have a case for you."

House nodded and downed the hot cup of caffeine before he pulled on his coat and grabbed his cane. When both men reached the lobby and stepped outside House paused and rolled his eyes at the man that stood there waiting for him… again. "Dr. Wilson, I'd like you to meet my stalker."

Wilson raised an eyebrow. "Stalker?"

"Name's Calvin… your waiting room sucks by the way." The young man said as he turned and followed House and Wilson as they walked towards Wilson's car.

House sighed. "I am not treating you."

"Why?" Calvin asked, "Because it's a closet case?" he asked as he looked between the two men.

Wilson cleared his throat. "We… we're not together." He clarified.

"He's so self-loathing." House said with a sly smile, poking fun at what Calvin had insinuated. "Well, we must be off but…"

"No!" Calvin called as he rushed to stand in front of House, holding out a file for him to take as they got to Wilson's car. "Nobody can figure out what's wrong with me."

House looked Calvin up and down and sighed once more. "Well your shirt is gaping at the collar, which means you've lost weight, you're flushed, that's a fever, and you're short of breath… and finally there's the KS lesion on your face; meaning you're HIV positive, you've progressed to full-blown AIDS. So you're sick because your immune system is shot and someone sneezed on you." House finished. "Can I be excused now?"

Calvin huffed and grabbed House's cane, preventing him from walking further. "Brilliant, but, my immune system is fine."

"Your physique begs to differ. Get your T-cell count re-checked." House stated, only for Calvin to shake his head.

"I've already done that." House pulled back on his cane, only for Calvin to hold fast to it, not letting go.

"Did they test for T-cell lymphoma?" Wilson asked.

"It came back negative." Calvin answered.

House narrowed his eyes at Calvin, becoming annoyed. "All of this will be fascinating to an HIV specialist. Now let go of my cane before it becomes your new boyfriend."

"Honey, I will marry it if you will look at my file."

House rolled his eyes as Calvin still pulled on his cane. It a split decision, House let go of it, causing Calvin to fall back against Wilson's car, causing the alarm to sound off. Calvin's eyes go wide as he clutches his chest and falls to the sidewalk, causing Wilson to rush over to him and check his pulse.

"I never touched him." House said.

"Call an ambulance; he's going into anaphylactic shock."


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello lovelies! is everyone ready for the next chapter with House and Cameron? This chapter is a bit of a filler, but it needed to be posted to be a bridge for further events. Happy reading!**

When House arrived at work with Wilson, having followed the ambulance that they called for Calvin, he was ushered into Cuddy's office and currently stood in front of her desk with a bored look on his face.

"Go see Stacy." Cuddy said as she sat forward in her desk chair, her elbows resting on the surface of her desk.

"Why?" House questioned, "We gave him an Epi, the man is fine."

"You hit a patient so you need a lawyer, go see Stacy."

House rolled his eyes and huffed. _'I haven't seen her since the woman began working here, why do I have to see her now?' _he questioned to himself. He held up his hand, holding up four fingers. "Four words," he dropped two fingers, "Two mistakes… He's not a patient and I didn't hit him."

Cuddy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Of course you didn't, now go see Stacy."

"I didn't cause the anaphylaxis; it's more likely to be one of his HIV meds abacavir." House countered.

"I'll pass that along; make sure the ER takes him off it. I'm not going to say it again House… go see Stacy." She said sternly and watched until House grudgingly turned and left her office before she rolled her eyes and continued to work on paperwork.

House had checked in with his team before he made it to Stacy's office and found himself just staring at her closed door, looking at her nametag. He took a deep breath before he knocked on the door, hearing her beckoning him to enter before he opened it and stepped inside. He saw that Stacy was looking over papers at her desk as she glanced up at him and smiled. "Stacy." He said.

"House… How are you and Cameron?" she asked as she sat back in her seat, a piece of paper in her hand.

"Were good… I assume you know why I'm here?" he asked.

Stacy nodded, "You have to treat him."

House sighed, "There's no case medically, he has AIDS and at most an infection."

"If you don't treat him, he plans on charging you with assault."

House growled and shook his head. "Just 'cause he says I hit him doesn't make it true. Watch," He looked up at the ceiling and shuts his eyes tightly, "I am surrounded by naked cheerleaders," There's a moment of silence between the two and Stacy rolls her eyes. "See?" He questioned. "Although I like my chances of some action this morning."

Stacy smirked. "Oh, I forgot that today was hooker day! Does Allison know?" she asked, holding back a chuckle.

House rolled his eyes and leaned on a chair that sat in front of her desk. "How's Mark?" he shot back.

Stacy shrugged and moved some papers around on her desk. "He's been going to physio…" House nodded and watched as Stacy became stiff as she turned to look through her computer.

"Just cure the guy and get on with it House." She said, turning to see House sigh in defeat before he turned and left her office.

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In the diagnostics room, House stood beside the white board as he began the differential for his patient. "Name is Calvin Laramie, so flamboyant in person, so boring on paper. Obviously has an opportunistic infection, probably TB or PCP."

"Have you read his file?" Chase asked.

"I started to, but I found the characters to be two dimensional."

"He went to an HIV clinic last week, tested negative for TB, PCP, MAC, CMV, HSV. It's not an infection." Chase clarified.

House sighed and walked into his office, not wanting to hear any more about it, but his team followed him. "Re-test him. The HIV clinic could have missed something."

"Calvin's results make sense; his T-cells are at 200. That's strong enough to fight infection." Cameron said as she watched House pick up a pile of mail that she had sat on his desk and began to file through it.

"Fine, a parasite then." House countered.

Foreman shook his head, "Nope, stool sample was negative."

Cameron watched as House sat at his desk, mail still in his hand. "Two months ago, he was down to 30 T-cells, he changed his meds, his immune system rebounded, his viral load drops, everything's getting better but he's still getting sicker."

"Face it House, this may just be an interesting case." Foreman said.

"What if his immune system is _too_ strong?" House asked.

"An auto immune disease? With him having HIV, that's impossible." Chase answered.

"His new HIV meds kicked his system out of a sound sleep. It wakes up hungry, cranky, ready for a fight. When it doesn't find an active infection it starts attacking the harmless remnants of old infections. Immune reconstitution syndrome." House explained.

Foreman shrugged, "His meds made him better, he made himself sick. Sounds pretty—"

"Boring!" House interrupted as he tossed half of his mail in his trash bin. "Get a Chest X-ray and find the old infections, start him on steroids." He watched as Foreman and Chase got up and left, but Cameron stayed behind. "Not following the fellow ducklings?" he questioned.

Cameron smiled and walked up to House to stand in between his legs. "I'll catch up… I heard that you had to talk to Stacy. She make you take this case?" House nodded. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Cameron knowingly smiled. "You're evading." She said gently as she leaned against his desk.

House raised an eyebrow at the woman in front of him as she partially sat on his desk and crossed her arms over her chest. "Am I?" he asked.

Cameron smiled. "It's alright, I won't push it." She said as she stood and leaned down to place a kiss on House's cheek. "How about you come to my place tonight and I'll fix us some spaghetti and we'll have some wine?" she asked.

House smiled. "Sounds good to me… Go catch up with your other ducklings." House answered, letting her lips linger on his cheek. Before she could fully pull away from him, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back down to him for a proper kiss, then smirked as she began to blush. "Go on." He said softly, letting her turn and leave his office.

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Later in the day House and Wilson stood at the pharmacy store room, waiting on House's refill of Vicodin. "If you're wrong, steroids will tank his immune system. He'll get worse." Wilson stated as he watched House.

"Now _that _would be interesting." House answered.

Wilson rolled his eyes. "So you're having dinner tonight?"

"Wow, news travels fast around here."

Wilson raised an eyebrow at his friend. "I was asking if you had plans… apparently you do?"

House nodded as the pharmacist gave him his script. "Going to Cameron's tonight for a night in."

"So you won't need a ride back home?" Wilson guessed.

House turned to face his ling time friend as he opened the bottle he as given and popped a pill in his mouth, swallowing it dry. "Nope." He replied, before he turned and walked off, cane in hand.

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Cameron and Chase entered Calvin's room. Cameron began doing an exam on Calvin, speaking to him as she did so. "Your lymph nodes aren't swollen. That's good." She said as she removed her hand from under Calvin's blanket.

"Maybe Dr. Chase should double check." Calvin retorted as he looked Chase up and down.

Chase smirked as he injected steroids into Calvin's IV. "Sorry mate, hands full."

Calvin smiled. "He's too pretty to be straight. You ever done any modeling?" he asked.

Chase chuckled, "Does anyone ever fall for that line?"

"Every day. Why do you think I became a photographer? I'm guessing you guys didn't think about dating on career day?"

Cameron smirked. "I love my job." She said.

"Really?" Calvin asked. "You seem more the 'find it exceptionally satisfying' type." Cameron looked up to see Chase smirking at her, knowing that dating their boss was a perk.

"I'm not sure there's a difference." Cameron replied. "Your mom died of diabetes. How's your dad's health?" she asked.

"Last I heard he had cirrhosis." Calvin answered. "Love, is love, satisfying is 'social validation, fun can wait'."

"I have fun." Cameron countered.

Chase smiled. "Yeah, she's got some scheduled for tonight. Last you heard? Your father?" he questioned, trying to keep the subject back on his medical history.

Calvin nodded. "He threw me out when I was sixteen. It's just as well; I got tired of getting BB guns for my birthday when I'd asked for a Barbie."

Chase nodded as he moved to make a note in his pocket pad. "Dads can be _real_ sweethearts." He said.

"Oooh, cute _and_ sensitive." Calvin said with a grin as he looked over at Cameron, seeing her smile.

Cameron shrugged, "Eh, he's cute." She answered with a smirk.

**Does anyone have any ideas of what could happen at Cameron's for House and Cameron's little at home date? Let me know what your thinking!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Here's chapter twenty for you everyone! We've made it to 20, so this is a bit of a special chapter for House and Cameron. If you do not want to read mature content, you will want to skip the end of this chapter! letting you guys know ahead of time. Happy Reading! follow and review!**

Five came around quickly for the House and his team, and everyone was thankful. Chase had been going on the rest of the day about being flirted with by their patient. Apparently he was proud of it and wanted to share. House stood in the main lobby while he waited for Cameron to finish up her last clinic hour for the day.

The receptionist looked up from the clinic's lobby and noticed that House was leaning against the counter. "Dr. House, Cameron is with her last patient now, she won't be much longer." She said kindly, a smile on her face.

House looked over at her and nodded. "Thank you." He answered quietly. At his 'thank you' the receptionist smiled wider and nodded before she turned back to the files in front of her as she entered things into her computer. _'Great, they'll think I'm going soft.'_ He sighed and shook his head, but couldn't hide the small grin that came to his face.

Cameron stepped out of exam room one and turned to shake the hand of the young woman that she had been seeing. "Your script will be ready this afternoon." She said with a smile before she turned and walked over to the receptionist counter. "Birth control for Ms. Harrid, make sure she gets her call for her annual visit's results."

"Sure thing Dr. Cameron." The receptionist replied with a smile. When Cameron looked up from signing the file, she saw the receptionist glance to the other side of the counter, and that's when she noticed that House was leaning on the counter across from them.

"Thank you Mindy." She replied and walked around the counter to stand in front of House, a smile on her face. "You were waiting for me?" she asked softly. House nodded, staying quiet, although the small grin stayed on his face. "Are you ready to go?"

"I'm ready when you are."

Cameron nodded and patted his hand, which rested on the counter. "Alright, let's go then." She turned to Mindy and smiled, "I will see you tomorrow Mindy."

"Have a good night you two." Mindy replied.

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The drive to Cameron's apartment was uneventful and when House stepped through the threshold of her apartment and shut the door behind him, the only thing he could hear was the loud meow of Cameron's cat. "Someone is hungry."

Cameron chuckled as she walked over to the fridge and retrieved his food. "He's like this every time I come home."

"Where is he?" House asked as he walked over to sit at the kitchen table. "You keep his food in the fridge? Too pampered to eat kibble?"

Cameron rolled her eyes as she grabbed his dish from her sink from last night. "He eats Fresh Pet every night so he gets the omega fats that he needs for his skin and coat. I keep kibble out all day for him."

House chuckled as he watched Cameron open the container and proceed to spoon the food into the tiny dish when he felt something lean against his legs, causing him to look down. He met the bright green eyes of a solid white cat. "Someone is spoiled… and out of hiding."

Cameron turned around to see that Everest was leaning against House's legs, looking up at him. "He can be quite shy; he'll warm up to you by the end of the night." She walked over to where his other food dish sat and placed it on the mat. "C'mon Everest, dinner time bud." She cooed to the large cat, causing him to turn his head and pad over to her. Cameron scratched his head before leaving him to eat his food. When she looked back up at House, he was smirking at her. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing." He replied as he sat back in his chair.

Cameron shook her head at him. "I'm going to go change out of these clothes and I'll be right back. You can start the water for the spaghetti if you'd like." House nodded and she headed down the hallway that led to her bedroom.

House looked down the hallway even though Cameron had disappeared and sighed. 'It's still hard for me to believe that I'm in an actual relationship again.' He shook his head and cleared his thoughts before he stood and walked over to the kitchen counter and looked for the cabinet that would hold her pots and pans, finding it only after looking in three cabinets. He grabbed a large pot and filled it half way full from the tap before he put it on the stove and turned on the burner before he moved to sit back in the chair that he'd pulled out for himself.

When Cameron returned, she smiled at seeing a pot on the stove. "Thank you." She said as she walked over to the pot and added a bit of salt and olive oil to the water.

"You're welcome." House replied. "I'm used to fixing noodles at least." He said with a chuckle as Cameron turned and smiled at him.

It didn't take long for the water to begin to boil as Cameron quickly added the noodles to the pot for them to soften. "Do you want me to brown some meat to put in with the sauce or just sauce and noodles?" Cameron asked.

House shrugged, "I'm not picky." He said, when he suddenly jumped as Everest hopped into his lap. "Furball." He growled as he looked down at the cat, which looked back at him with his bright green eyes. Everest perched himself in House's lap and sat there, his fluffy tail hanging down from House's legs.

Cameron turned around to see what the sudden movement was only to smile at the sight that she saw. "I told you that he would warm up to you." She said, before she reached down to a lower cabinet to get a skillet, giving House a wonderful view of her ass in her thin yoga shorts.

"Well that's a nice view." House said as he absentmindedly patted Everest, causing the tiny beast to purr.

Cameron looked back at him while she was bent over. _'I can play this game.'_ She slowly stood up and put the skillet on the stove. "Is it now?" she asked as she walked over to her fridge to pull out a pound of beef that she was glad that she had thawed out the previous day.

House raised an eyebrow at her when she glanced back at him as she put the meat in the skillet. "Very much so." He replied, which caused Cameron to chuckle.

"So I take it that you're an ass man then?" she asked while she grabbed for a fork so she could watch over the meat.

"I like many things, but there is nothing like a fine ass." House retorted.

Cameron rolled her eyes, even though he couldn't see her do so. "What other things do you like if I may ask?"

House smirked as he quietly put the cat on the floor and stood, leaving his cane propped up against the table. He didn't speak again until he was right behind her, startling her as he whispered in her ear. "Are we speaking of you specifically?" he asked, seeing goosebumps rise upon her bare shoulders. Cameron could only nod as she stirred the meat, making sure that it ground up properly. House smiled as he moved her hair aside and placed his lips on her shoulder, then her neck. "I like your perfume," He said gently, accentuating what he said with another kiss to her neck, "I like your hair… your lips." He whispered. He could feel Cameron stiffen as he wrapped one arm around her waist. He glanced up to see that she was trying to continue her task, but was beginning to falter.

Cameron could feel her heartrate rise exponentially due to House's ministrations as she felt her face and chest flush with heat. She cleared her throat as she continued to stir the meat in the skillet and looked at the boiling water before she took a chance to glance back at House. Her free hand moved to hold the one he had wrapped around her waist. _'This man is going to make me insane.'_

House chuckled as he kissed her neck once more before he rested his head on her shoulder. "I'll stop torturing you." He murmured. "We don't need to burn the apartment down."

Cameron took a slow deep breath and nodded. "I think that's a good idea." She could feel House vibrate as he chuckled and placed a kiss on her shoulder before moving away from her, taking his place back in his chair.

It wasn't long before Cameron had drained the water for the noodles, putting them in a strainer, and drained the grease from the meat before she added them together and added the sauce from her pantry. She sat down in the chair adjacent to House and smiled. "It won't be long before food is ready." House nodded as he was petting Everest as he'd jumped back in his lap, a smirk ever present on his face. "You're proud of yourself for that aren't you?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Getting you all worked up?" he asked. "Kind of hard not to be." He watched as Cameron turned a lovely shade of rose from embarrassment, although her eyes held lust within them as he watched them dilate. He could see her thoughts turning in her head. "Do I want to know what's going through your mind?" he asked playfully.

Cameron shook her head and looked at the floor, feeling the heat in her cheeks flare hotter. Deciding not to answer him, she stood up and checked on the food, turning the burner off as she found it to be done. She grabbed two plates and fixed them each a serving of food before she placed them on the kitchen table before she turned and grabbed cheese from the fridge and silverware for them both. When she sat back down she smiled at him. "Watch Everest, he'll steal noodles from your fork." House chuckled as he put the cat down on the floor and scooted closer to the table as they both began to eat.

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Dinner was eaten in companionable silence and they both cleaned up their mess together, Cameron making sure to put leftovers in a container so they could have lunch for work the next day. They currently sat, curled up together on the couch as they watched tv, Cameron's legs resting in House's lap. "Dinner was nice." House said softly as he kissed her temple, his arm resting around her waist.

"I'm glad you liked it." Cameron answered, leaning into his touch, one of her hands moving to rest on his chest. House chuckled, her comment reminding him of the incident in the kitchen while she cooked their meal.

"Yes… I liked it very much." He said with a chuckle, his voice husky, as he turned her head to face his so he could kiss her. His hold tightening on her waist as she eagerly kissed him back, her tongue quickly asking for permission to enter his mouth, which he granted instantly. Cameron sat up, her legs moving to straddle his lap as her hands began searching for bare skin, going beneath his shirt and up to his chest, feeling his heart under her hands. House growled as his hands gripped her waist and pulled her against him, letting her feel the arousal that she was creating.

Cameron smiled into the kiss and slowly pulled away so they could breathe, their foreheads resting against each other's. "Is that for me?" she whispered, leaving butterfly kisses on his lips.

House smirked as he pulled her towards him so that he could ground his pelvis against hers. "It is if you want it." He answered his voice just above a whisper in its own, hissing when Cameron let her nails rake gently down his chest as she maneuvered downward towards his belt to undo it, her eyes never leaving his. He leaned back to let her do as she wished, watching her as she unbuttoned his jeans after his belt was out of the way before she slowly pulled his zipper downward. "Cameron… I'm not forcing you…" he said, only to be cut off by her kiss as she reached under his jeans and grabbed ahold of his hardened shaft.

"I want to." She whispered to him as she made room so she could free him from the confines of his jeans, her hand running down the length of him in slow, languid strokes, making House lull his head back, a groan on his lips.

"Damn it Allison." He growled out, his hips trying their best to move along with her hand, his hands gripping tightly to her hips.

"Should we move to the bedroom?" she asked as she leaned up to kiss his neck.

"No." He quickly replied as his hands grabbed the hem of her shorts and underwear and pulled them downward. Cameron quickly stood to allow them to fall from her legs before she straddled his lap again, their lips quickly connecting together in a heated kiss. "Do you have protection?" he asked gruffly when they pulled apart, her hand still stroking him.

"I'm on the pill… but I do in the bedroom if you want me to go get it." She replied as she teased him by running his shaft along herself causing him to groan.

"If you keep doing that, I'm gonna say screw it."

Cameron smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Are you clean?" she asked.

"I'm not stupid." He said gruffly as his hands gripped her hips gently, his thumbs running back and forth across her hip bones.

"I trust you." She said softly as she leaned forward to kiss him at the same time that she sank down onto him, causing both of them to groan into the kiss. Cameron pushed herself to be flush against him, her knees gripping his hips as she gyrated against his pelvis.

"Shit." House gasped as he grasped her around the waist, his arms beneath her shirt. His body automatically moved along with her, thrusting to meet her movements as she began to bounce on top of him.

Cameron rested her head on his shoulder as she thrusted against him, biting her lip as she increased her pace. "Greg…" she moaned, hiding her face in the crook of his neck.

House placed on hand behind her neck from under her shirt, while the other held her hips as widened his legs to give himself more leverage. "Stand on your knees." He whispered into her ear. Once she did so, He began to thrust upwards quickly as he held onto her, causing both of them to moan loudly. "Ally…" He groaned as he moved to kiss and bite her neck and shoulder.

Cameron panted as she held her position, feeling him hit just the right angle, making her cry out. "Don't… don't stop… "she gasped as she held onto his shirt for dear life.

"I'm close…" House growled as h let his head fall back, giving access for Cameron to kiss his neck again. He could feel his legs shake with excursion, but he currently couldn't give a shit as he felt loss to the bliss that was Allison Cameron.

"Mmm… me too." Cameron answered as she felt herself begin to spasm before she buried her head in his neck and cried out with her release. "Greg!"

House groaned at the feeling of her tightening around him as he erratically thrust into her. "Oh, Allison…" House growled as he gripped her hips tightly once more, grunting with his own release, before he slumped into the seat of the couch, pulling his weighted arms around her, holding her tightly to him as he tried to regain his breathing.

Cameron huffed, trying to catch her breath as she leaned up to kiss him lazily, freeing one of her hands from his shirt so she could run her hand through his hair. It was then that she could feel his legs beneath her. "You're shaking." She whispered.

"I'll be fine." He said softly, a lazy smile on his face as he stared into her hazel eyes.

"Do you want to stay here tonight?" she asked.

House let himself smile wide as he tilted her chin so he could kiss her again. "Sure sweetheart."

Cameron smiled at the endearment. "I could get used to that."


	21. Chapter 21

**Alright everyone... I sincerely aplologize for taking so long to post this chapter and that this chapter is not the usual length of the other ones. Almost three weeks ago I had to have an emegrency surgery to have my appendix removed. I spent the night in the hospital and have been taking it easy as I recover. I am doing a lot better now and I am on the mend, slowly getting back to normal. **

**I hope that everyone likes this chapter and I will do my best to keep them coming for you guys. I know how much everyone likes this story and I don't want to disappoint my readers.**

**Happy reading! As always, follow and review!**

The alarm blared in House's ear the following morning. He squinted eyes at the sound and rolled over, slinging his arm over his head to cover his ears. He heard a faint chuckle before he felt a slim body lean over his body to stop the blaring noise, bringing the bedroom back into a relaxing silence.

"Greg." Cameron whispered, as she stayed perched above him. She moved to place a hand on either side of his body and leaned down to press a kiss to his are shoulder. "We need to get up."

House groaned before he peeked around his arm. "Why? Let's just play hooky."

Cameron rolled her eyes and moved his arm away from his face so she could kiss his temple, then his cheek. "We have a case." She smirked as he turned and hid his face in the pillow. "You can't hide from me… I'll give you ten more minutes, and then you have to get up." She soothed. She leaned down and placed a kiss just below his ear and got out of bed to stretch.

Upon hearing Everest's protests she opened the bedroom door to let the cat in while she walked to her bathroom to prepare to take a shower. She tuned on the water to the standing shower and tested the temperature before she pulled off the t shirt that she had slept in for the night, unable to hide the grin that came to her face at realizing that it was House's shirt.

Cameron was halfway through with washing her hair when she felt a pair of strong arms come around her waist and rest just above her navel. A smile came to her face as she turned in his grasp so she could rinse her hair of soap. "What happened to ten more minutes?" she asked.

"Your cat." House answered as he ran his hands up her sides to graze over her breasts, feeling her tense at his touch, before he reached the nape of her neck.

Cameron smirked when she took a step forward and directly out of the spray of the water, her arms resting around his neck. "I'm sorry he wouldn't leave you alone."

"If he had left me alone, I would have missed this." He murmured as he leaned down to capture his lips with hers.

Cameron smiled into this kiss and tightened her grip around his neck. She sighed when he moved from her lips, to her jaw, then down to her neck and shoulder. "Greg." She whispered her voice barely audible above the spray of the water.

House barely paused in his ministrations, his lips and teeth grazing her collarbone. "Hmm?" he answered.

"We need to get ready for work." At her statement, House sighed and rested his head on her shoulder. "I don't have any clothes for you here, or I wouldn't mind." She clarified.

"Fine." House grumbled. "But this isn't over." He smirked, leaving his lips against her skin as he decided to leave a love bite where her neck and shoulder met, making Cameron cry out. He leaned back to look at her, to gauge her reaction, to see her eyes glazed over. "You liked that didn't you?" he asked, a wry smile on his face.

Cameron shook her head, trying to bring herself back to reality. "Shut up." She answered, although a smile adorned her face.

House and Cameron had made it to House's apartment so that he could change clothes. House had just begun to button up his shirt when Cameron came in his bedroom, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her. "Still on your mind huh?" he asked.

Cameron walked over to sit on the edge of his bed. "I don't know what you're talking about." She replied, although the flush of her face told an entirely different story.

_Oh this is going to be fun_ . . . He smirked at her and left his shirt partially unbuttoned and walked up to Cameron, standing on either side of her legs, trapping them between his own. He leaned down, and closed the space in between them. He placed a kiss on her lips, her hands running down his chest. Just when he had placed kisses down her jaw and to her neck, his phone rang and caused House to groan and dig his phone from his jeans. "What?" He growled.

On the other end of the line, Foreman raised his eyebrow while standing in the diagnostics meeting room. "Wrong time? Where are you?" he asked.

"Your sisters house, ignore the screaming." House answered, causing Cameron to roll her eyes as she ran her hand through his hair.

Foreman rolled his eyes and sat down at the meeting room table. "His lungs are too scarred to tell which infection triggered the immune reconstitution."

House looked down at Cameron and smiled, his attention being split from the woman in front of him, and his employee on the phone. "Is he a smoker?"

Foreman clicked the button, putting House on speaker. "Yes, and possibly more than cigarettes. His tox screen came back positive for recreational drugs."

House shrugged and leaned down to give Cameron a lazy kiss. "Not surprising, also not medically relevant."

"His heart looks enlarged." Chase said, deciding to speak up.

House nodded as Cameron kissed his neck, and then his chest, causing a delay in his answer as he cleared his throat. "That's a typical side-effect of AZT. What are Calvin's most recent infections?" he asked.

Foreman looked over at Chase, getting suspicious. "Toxo, CMV and PCP," He answered. "House? Do you have company?"

House rolled his eyes as he ran his hand through Cameron's hair, letting her run her hands up and down his chest. "Well let's assume it's one of those. Give him Ganciclovir for the CMV-"

"Woah, hey, Where are you?" Foreman asked again, knowing that House had ignored his question.

"I'm at home, if you must know," He replied as he took a step away from Cameron to let her stand. He watched as she came to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "And no . . . I am not alone. We will be in the office shortly. "Do what I said and do Ganciclovir for the CMV, Sulfadiazine for the Toxo, and Bactrim for PCP." House pulled the phone away from his ear and hung up, returning it to his jean pocket. Cameron smirked as she leaned up on her toes so she could reach House's lips and they shared a long languid kiss before they both pulled away for air. "Alright . . . we mustn't keep the children waiting."

Cameron laughed. "Fine . . . but you are right, this is not over." She got a wry smile from House in response.

Meanwhile back at the hospital Foreman and Chase looked at each other. "Did he say _we_?" Chase asked.

Foreman nodded. "I think so . . . he must be with Cameron."

"Do you think they stayed the night with each other?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Foreman questioned. "Maybe she picked him up."

Chase rolled his eyes, "I highly doubt that."

"Well, they are a thing now." Foreman replied, causing Chase to sigh. "You have a thing for her don't you?" he asked.

"Wouldn't you?" he questioned. Chase sat back in his seat and played with a pen that sat on the table. "I just think it's weird . . . them together."

"There's nothing wrong with it if they get along. But I wouldn't let House know you have feelings for his girl." Foreman stated, smirking at Chase.


	22. Chapter 22

**Here's the next chapter for House everyone! I know not a lot happens this chapter, but I hope that you guys enjoy it!**

House and Cameron arrived at the hospital and rode the elevator up to the diagnostic floor in companionable silence. Although Cameron found herself stealing glances of the man beside her. When he caught her staring, he only smirked at her and placed his hand on the small of her back as they walked down the hallway that led them to their meeting room and House's office.

When they walked inside Chase and Foreman looked up at them both.

"Calvin is coughing up blood." Chase stated.

House furrowed his brow. "That's new. When did that start?"

"He started coughing a couple hours ago, but it progressed to him coughing up blood."

"Well, coughing is a new symptom, a blood vessel ruptured in his lung."

Chase nodded, "I closed the tear."

House walked over to his white board and Cameron sat down at one of the seats at the table. "Well it takes immune reconstitution off the table. What's it put on the table?" he asked.

"Could be Kaposi's Syndrome." Cameron suggested.

House shook his head as he played with his cane. "No edema or blood in his urine."

"What about KS?" Foreman questioned. "KS on his face could mean KS in his lungs, with bleeding from the lesions."

"I would have seen them when I repaired the tear in his lung." Chase clarified. "Wegener's granulomatosis?"

"If he had Wegener's it would have responded to the steroids we gave him." Cameron said. "I honestly think we need to revisit drugs and toxins."

"We know that he tested positive for drugs, it is not medically relevant." House answered as he leaned on his cane.

"You didn't hear me. I also said toxins; it could be tainted with anything from rat poison to battery acid."

House paused as he thought for a moment, "Find his pills and test them for toxins." He watched as his team all got up and filed out of the room, leaving him free to go into his office.

Cameron and Chase travelled to Calvin's apartment in search of his drugs. Once they were inside, they split and began to search throughout the home.

"There are no drugs in here, I'll check the bathroom." Cameron called as she finished checking a desk in the living room.

Chase looked after Cameron as she walked down the hallway and sighed. It would be now or never if he wanted to talk to her without anyone else overhearing them. He walked down the hall and leaned against the bathroom doorway. "So … how has everything been going?"

Cameron glanced back at Chase while she bent down to look through the cabinets of Calvin's vanity. "It's been fine. Why?" she asked.

"I'm just curious. How're you and House doing?"

Cameron rolled her eyes. _There's the question_, she thought to herself as she dug through cleaning materials and felt against the walls of the small vanity.

"House and I are doing fine … more than fine actually." She answered with a smirk. She shut the doors and stood before she turned and faced Chase. "Nothing in here, why don't you go and check the kitchen?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

Chase raised an eyebrow at her and stood his ground. "More than fine?" he asked.

Cameron sighed, "Yes Chase, we are doing very well and enjoy being together. Why are you being so nosey?" she questioned as she pushed him out into the hall and towards the kitchen so they could search in there.

Chase begrudgingly let her push him to the kitchen and he turned to look through the cabinets. "I don't know. I'm just showing interest I guess. I just find it weird that House has settled down a little."

"Settled down? He hasn't changed Chase … just because we are a couple it doesn't change how he works, he's still the same man." Cameron said sternly as she searched beneath the sink.

Chase sighed and shut the last cabinet. "Defensive much?" he questioned. He was about to say more until he saw the glare that Cameron was giving him, so he held up his hands in surrender. "There's nothing here, I checked the bedroom when we first got here… the only thing I found were some old lightbulbs."

"Back to the hospital then, I'll let House know that the home is clear."

Cameron and Chase walked into House's office and Cameron placed a lightbulb on his desk. House looked down at it, then back up at Cameron and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Calvin is a photographer; the date stamp on the glass is from the nineteen thirties."

Chase nodded as he leaned against the wall. "Pre-World War II fluorescent bulbs contained large amounts of beryllium. Beryllium dust inflames the lungs, they get rigid, and the patient can't breathe." House furrowed his brows at Chase. "My father published a paper on acute berylliosis."

House snorted "Phew! For a moment there I thought you were smart. Cameron, get a biopsy of Calvin's lung tissue. Run a spectrographic analysis." Cameron nodded and turned to go towards Calvin's room, while House had Chase complete his clinic hours.

In Calvin's room, Cameron prepared to get the biopsy that they needed to test for berylliosis. "You're going to feel a sharp pinch." Cameron said gently, preparing to get what she needed as she inserted a metal instrument into Calvin's side to get a piece of lung tissue.

Calvin squeezed his eyes shut at the hard pinch from the biopsy tool. "What were you looking for at my home?" he asked after Cameron removed the tool from his side and proceeded to patch him up.

"We were searching for your drugs. Thought maybe you'd used toxic meth. We'll know if you're exposed to beryllium in a few hours."

Calvin smirked, "Well if you're still curious, it's in my bag over there on the chair."

Cameron looked at him with wide eyes, "You brought drugs into the hospital?! Glad I wasted my time at your hotel." She walked over to his bag and checked through some of the pockets until she found the drugs in a clear plastic bag.

"I told you I used; you didn't ask me for a sample." Calvin replied with a shrug. Cameron rolled her eyes and left Calvin's room.

Later in the day the alarm sounded from Calvin's room, causing nurses to rush in along with Chase and Foreman, all dressed in scrubs.

Calvin lay in his back, grasping at his chest. "Chest … hurts!" he cried out.

Foreman looked up at his monitors. "Heart rate's a hundred and climbing, could be an allergic reaction."

Chase bent over him with a stethoscope, "Neck veins are out; must be pericardial effusion." He quickly checked his lung sounds, "No wheezing." Calvin continued to gasp for air.

"The tear in his lung has re-opened." Foreman stated.

"Calvin, you're bleeding into the area around your heart." Chase said, calmly getting his attention.

"I'm dying?" Calvin questioned. "I can't breathe!"

Chase grabbed some instrument to try help Calvin, while he explained to him what was going on. "The blood's crushing your heart, once we remove it, you'll be fine."

Calvin shook his head, "If I die, please... tell my dad—"

"You're not going to die." Chase replied firmly.

Calvin shook his head again, his eyes becoming glossy. "-tell... him... sorry." He murmured, before he lost consciousness.

Foreman grabbed the syringe that Chase gave him and pulled up on the plunger. The liquid was clear instead of red like they were hoping.

"Where's the blood?" Chased asked, "That's clear."

Foreman sighed, "Only one other thing could cause this; a tumor in his heart."


	23. Chapter 23

**I know that this chapter is short and I apologize for that, but I wanted to give everyone a chapter of the story that has become so popular. (Which I am extremely thankful for! Thank you for all of the new followers!) I hope that you like this chapter, and as always please review and follow!**

After Calvin had been stabilized, House got his team together along with Wilson and they all sat in the diagnostic room, trying to figure out how they were going to help the poor guy.

"A CT confirmed that there is a mass in Calvin's heart and several smaller ones in his lungs." Wilson said as he sat down in the nearest open chair.

Chase nodded, "That's why his heart is enlarged then, it's not the AZT."

House looked through the paperwork and sighed, "Masses in the heart and lungs, what kind of cancer are we looking at?" he questioned.

"They may not be cancerous, we haven't checked." Cameron interjected.

Wilson shook his head at Cameron, "No, this is classic Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma; HIV positive patient with a primary heart mass. . . I've seen it before."

Cameron furrowed her brow as she thought through options in her head. "It could be sarcoidosis."

"His lung tissue was negative." Foreman replied.

Cameron sat back in her seat and sighed, "Lymphoma's a death sentence, and sarcoidosis is treatable."

House rolled his eyes, "So's an ear infection, but since he didn't test positive for that either. . ."

Cameron narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. "I wanna do the Kveim-Siltzbach test."

House scoffed and sputtered. "Do you have any idea how much paperwork Cuddy is going to need signed?" he complained. He watched as Cameron looked at him sternly, not budging on her decision, causing him to nod. "Do it."

He watched as the team quickly gathered their belongings and left the room, although Cameron stood and took her time to grab the things that she would need. He stood slowly and heavily leaned on his cane for a moment before he took the few strides that it would take to reach her side.

"So, how is the patient father?" House questioned.

Cameron looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "What're you talking about?"

"'Tell my dad I'm sorry?' You might as well wave the red flag at a bull."

Cameron nodded as she tapped her papers on the table top to straighten them. "He's not coming to visit him."

"Well it's not a tragedy, the dad doesn't want to see him, and he doesn't want to see the dad. You're the only one who wants them together." House rebutted and watched as Cameron glared at him.

"He asked!" she quickly countered, becoming defensive.

House sighed and moved to sit on the table and gently pulled Cameron into his arms. "He thought he was dying, Cameron. Dying people lie too. They wish they'd work less, they'd been nicer, or opened orphanages for kittens." He let Cameron lean her head against his chest and he gently rested his head atop hers. "If you really want to do something, you do it; you don't save it for sound bite."

Cameron took a long deep breath as she thought about his words. "What did you say when you thought you were dying?" she asked softly. She felt House tense beneath her and his heartrate elevate slightly.

_Shit, I crossed a line_, she thought to herself as she let out a breath of air.

She tilted back, making House move from his position, so she could see his face. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that." She said quietly.

House took a deep breath and tightened his hold on Cameron for a moment before he slowly let her go and decided to change the subject, "On the other hand, his dad did toss him out, and so I wonder what he's so sorry for," Cameron backed out of his grasp, but he held onto her hands, "Hey," he started, his voice soft, "It's… hard to speak about, so don't take it harshly okay?" he asked.

Cameron nodded, "I won't."

Later in the afternoon, In Calvin's room Cameron leaned over him, doing a test, "If the growths in your lungs and heart are sarcoid, your body will recognize this material and we'll see a reaction on your arm." Cameron explained as she gave him an injection, "Did you really want to see your dad?" she suddenly asked.

"Did you call him?" Calvin questioned. Cameron shook her head, "Thanks. He would have come, try to straighten me out." Cameron stepped back and disposed of the syringe before Calvin decided to speak again, "What did you do with my drugs?" he asked.

"The lab disposes of it after analysis," she quickly answered.

"That's too bad; they could have done you some good."

Cameron shook her head, "No thank you, I'm not into that kind of thing." Calvin shrugged at her.

That night, House sat on his couch, nursing a tumbler of scotch on the rocks. He had let Cameron have a night alone from him since his mind was running with all of the memories of the past. Stacy had dealt a low blow when it had all gone down five years ago, and House was having trouble getting everything off his mind. The initial pain, the exams, the x-rays and MRI's were taxing to go through, not to mention Stacy and Cuddy breathing down his neck the entire time, while all he wanted was relief. When they finally found the problem, he knew that it wasn't good.

_I wanted them to remove it, I begged them to remove my leg before I was put in a coma,_ he thought to himself as he took another drink of his scotch and sighed loudly.

He looked up at the black screen of his tv while he propped his legs up on his coffee table and rolled the ice around in his tumbler. The longer he sat there, the heavier his eyes became, and soon he was finding that he was dozing off.

Just as House fell asleep, he was quickly woken up by a knock on his apartment door. Growling to himself, he roughly stood, then stumbled, having propped up his leg for too long. "Damn it." He huffed as he leaned against his couch for a moment before he limped to the door, unlocked it and opened it.

The sight he saw in front of him, wasn't one he was expecting, "Cameron?"


	24. Chapter 24

AN: Guys, I am so so very sorry that this took so long to get out to you all. I was struggling with some writers block with this story so I have been focusing on a few of my other stories on Wattpad. Plus I rcently started a new job, so there's the whole getting back into a new routine deal too. I know this isn't very long but I hope that you enjoy the chapter none the less. As always, please follow and review! I love to hear from you.

House stared at Cameron as she stood in his doorway, her hands clasped in front of her as she wrung her hands. "What are you doing here?" he questioned, knowing it was rather late at night.

Cameron looked at him like she'd been kicked. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I know you wanted to be alone tonight, but I couldn't let you wallow in your thoughts."

House cleared his throat and staggered a couple steps backward. "No sense in you just standing out there," he replied. "Come inside." He watched as Cameron quietly walked into his apartment and he quietly shut the door behind her before he turned and leaned his back against it, trying to relieve the growing pain in his leg.

When Cameron turned back round to face him, she noticed the creases in his brow and the tension in his shoulders, while he gripped hard onto the door handle with one hand, his knuckles white. "How bad is it?" she asked quietly.

"Bad," House gasped, squinting his eyes together in pain.

"Hold on," Cameron replied. She quickly dropped her back on to the couch and walked in the kitchen to grab the pill bottle that she spied on the counter, then rushed back to his side and gently beckoned him to open his mouth so she could place two pills on his tongue. Cameron watched him swallow them dry then wrapped one arm around his waist, preparing herself to take the brunt of his weight. "Alright, let's get you to bed," she said.

House took a deep breath and wrapped his free arm around Cameron's shoulders before he slowly let go of the door handle and leaned heavily against her. "Are you sure you can do this?" he asked gruffly. At her nod, they both slowly made their way to his bedroom. They made had to make a couple stops along the way due to House tensing up and gritting his teeth in pain, but he kept moving as it slowly began to ebb as the Vicodin ran through his system.

When they got to his bed, Cameron helped him to turn and sit on the bed before she had him lay back and elevate his bad leg. He watched as she walked into his bathroom across the hall, only to return with a tube in her hand. "What are you up to?" he questioned.

"I'm going to help you," she calmly replied. Cameron sat on the edge of the bed and put the tube beside her before she began to pull on his sweats, only for House to grab her hands.

"What are you doing?" House asked again, his voice more stern.

Cameron huffed, "Just trust me please, and let me help you." She stared him until he growled and let go of her hands so she could proceed to pull down his sweats and boxers just enough to see the worst of the destroyed muscle. Cameron didn't look at him, knowing that he was embarrassed by being weak, and grabbed the tube, putting a decent amount of gel on her hands before she slowly began to massage the muscle.

House tensed the instant that her skin touched his, the pain instantly flaring up again. He hissed through his teeth as he stared at his ceiling, slowly feeling his skin heat up underneath her fingers while she pressed into his muscle. "Where on earth did you find Icy Hot?" he asked hoarsely.

Cameron stifled a smile as she slowed her movements before she rested her hands on the area to keep the heat in a bit longer. "I found a tube in your medicine cabinet. I'm glad I saw this, otherwise it would have been the lotion I have in my purse."

"_That_ would have been a disaster," House griped, "You would have had me smelling like something fruity like strawberries."

"Actually my lotion smells like peppermint," she countered as she stood and worked out the tension in her hands from kneading into his leg. "How do you feel now?"

House let out a long breath as he stared up at Cameron and let a small smile grace his features. "Better," he replied before he patted the other side of the bed. "Join me?"

Cameron nodded and slipped off her jacket to place it over the trunk that sat at the base of the bed. "Let me go and turn of everything in the living room and I'll be right back." She quickly left House in his room to go in the other room and tidy up. It did not take her long to turn off the TV, lock the door, and take the glass that House had been nursing in the kitchen so she could pour the rest out and quickly rinse it out.

She turned the lights out on her way back to House's bedroom and smiled at the sight that greeted her when she returned. He had pulled his shirt over his head and worked his sweats off, so he was lying in his boxers, his leg still propped on the pillow, watching the small TV that sat atop his tall dresser.

"Feeling more comfortable?" she asked, causing him to turn her way just as she shimmied out of her jeans, leaving her in a pair of boy short panties and tee shirt.

"Yeah, even better now," House approved, a wry grin on his face.

Cameron gave him a stern look. "That should be the last thing on your mind with the episode that you just had."

House shrugged. "Vicodin has kicked in now, I wouldn't feel a thing."

"You would after the fact," she replied as she walked around the bed and climbed in beside House, under the blankets.

"Fine," he grumbled as he held an arm open for Cameron so she could snuggled against him. They lay there and watched tv for a while when a thought occurred to him. "Why did you show up tonight?" he asked quietly.

Cameron looked up at him, to be met with his bright blue eyes. "I knew that you had a lot on your mind because of what I asked you at work today and I couldn't let you deal with it alone, even if you did ask me to."

"For once, I'm glad that you didn't listen to me," he said with a chuckle. "I would have been on the floor as soon as I got up hours later if I didn't have to answer the door. House leaned down and gave Cameron a slow lingering kiss before he pulled away. "Are you still curious?" he asked, his voice just above a whisper.

"About?" she whispered in return.

"What I asked for when I thought I was dying."

Cameron took a deep breath and raised one hand to cup his cheek, running her thumb across his bottom lip. "Only if you really want to tell me."

"I wanted them to take it," he whispered, "I begged for them to cut my leg off. But Stacy decided to push for the coma."

"That's what really pushed you apart."

House nodded, "It was the final straw, that's for sure. It was what I wanted in the beginning, but I wanted complete use of my leg… not this," he admitted.

Cameron cupped his head in her hands and pulled him in to kiss him soundly. "You are perfect just the way that you are."

A scoff fell from House's lips. "You cannot truly mean that… I'm an asshole."

Cameron smiled. "Well, I do mean it, and I won't let you forget it. I love you the way that you are."

House stared at her, his face suddenly blank. "You love me?"

A wider smile appeared on Cameron's face at his question. "Yes Greg. I love you."

He quickly pulled her back to him and placed a heated kiss to her lips. They melded together as tongues dueled, their hands roaming. When they pulled away breathless, House had a mile wide smile on his face. "I love you too Ally," he whispered.


	25. Chapter 25

**AN: Alright everyone! I did not forget about you I promise! To make up for the lack of frequent updates, this chapter is nice and long. (A lot longer than they have been) I hope that you enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoy writing it! Now let's get back to Greg and Ally...**

At the hospital, House and Cameron arrive on their floor and step out of the elevator to hear loud shouting coming from Calvin's room. House looked down at Cameron before he walked quickly towards the noise, knowing that she was right on his heels behind him.

At the entrance of Calvin's room, House furrowed his brow at the situation in front of him. "Get out of my room!" Calvin screamed, looking towards an older man that stood at the foot of his bed.

The man shook his head angrily. "Don't you dare put this on me boy!" he retorted.

"I'm not going to grovel at you dad," Calvin growled.

"That's not what I am asking you to do."

Calvin scoffed, "Like hell it's not!" he yelled. He turned his head, noticing that House and Cameron were standing in the entrance of his room. "I thought you said you didn't call?" he questioned loudly.

House glanced over at Cameron before he sighed and shrugged. "Don't mind me," he stated, "I'm just here for the show."

Calvin's father rolled his eyes and turned away from his son. "Well, there's not going to be one." He starts to walk out of the room, only for House to block his exit with his cane.

"What happened to the big apology?" House asked, "Yesterday he was all 'daddy I'm so sorry…'"

Calvin narrowed his eyes as he sat on his bed. "That's not any of your business."

House smirked. "You should've thought about that before you decided to stalk me." He looked over at Calvin's dad, "So what does the kid have to apologize for?" he questioned. "You're the one that tossed him out."

"Now why on earth would I do that?" Calvin's father asked.

"I don't know, maybe because it's tough to brag to your buddies that your son knows all the words of _The Wiz_," House retorted, watching as the man got angry at him.

"That is a lie!" he hollered.

House eyed the man before he continued, "Forty Second Street? It'd be much easier to just get drunk and beat him. Explains his hating you; also your cirrhosis. Also why the more I talk, the more you sweat. What it doesn't explain, is why he's gotta apologize to you." House turned and looked back over at Calvin. "Is it residual guilt for sharing your special toy with other boys?"

Calvin looked between House and Cameron pleadingly. "Please, just leave it alone."

"Do you want to leave the man with some sort of peace when you're gone?" House questioned again, causing Calvin's dad to huff and get his attention.

"Look," he said, "Look, this has got nothing, and I mean _nothing_ to do with him being gay! Now Cal brought this on himself, with what he did to his mother."

House furrowed his brows at the man and looked between them. "What did he do? Steal her look?" he asked sarcastically.

Calvin's dad shook his head. "No," he sighed, "No, he killed her."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

House and his team all sat around the large table in the diagnostic's conference room. Cameron sighed and sulked in her chair, shaking her head. "Calvin lied to us."

"That's certainly shocking," House retorted as he leaned back in his chair.

Cameron got up from her seat and began to pace. "The mom's kidneys were failing, she needed a transplant, they tested Calvin, and he was a match. He was also positive for HIV, but mom never found a qualified donor, so she dies."

"Such a tragic tale," House answered.

Foreman shrugged, leaning forward in his seat, placing his elbows on the table. "He didn't kill her. We aren't donor farms for our parents."

Chase nodded in agreement. "It's not Nineteen Eighty. We know how HIV is transmitted. If Calvin got HIV through unprotected sex, dad has every right to be pissed off at him."

Cameron narrowed her eyes at Chase. "So, I assume that you always use a condom?" she questioned.

"Uh… yeah!" he exclaimed.

Foreman snickered causing Cameron to turn and look at him. "What about you?" she asked.

He held his hands up in surrender, "Hey, I'm not ready for any children to be running around," he assured. "You're not going to ask House?" he asked, causing the man himself to chuckle.

"I'm pretty sure that she knows the answer to that," House retorted pridefully, noting that Cameron instantly began to flush with color.

"I do not want to hear about you and Cameron's sex life," Chase said.

Cameron smiled as a nurse walked into the conference room and handed her a paper. She looked over it and sighed. "Where's Wilson?" she asked.

"Is that the results of his kveim test?" Foreman questioned curiously, causing Cameron to nod.

House looked at Cameron, only for her to shake her head at him, causing him to sigh and stand. "I'll get him."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Calvin sat in his bed, staring at Wilson. "So… I have cancer?" he asked quietly.

Wilson nodded and handed over the results paper so that Calvin could see it for himself. "In all likelihood. It's called Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma."

"Am… am I dying?" Calvin questioned, fear in his eyes.

"Well. We need to take a biopsy of the tumor. It's near your aorta, so getting to it to get the biopsy carries some pretty hefty risks."

Calvin nodded as he balled his blanket into his hands. "IS my dad still here?" he asked, his voice small.

Wilson raised an eyebrow at him. "He hasn't been in to see you?" He watched as Calvin only shook his head. "Would you like me to tell him?" Calvin nodded. "Alright… I'll explain what we have to do, and then I will go and notify your father."

"Okay," Calvin murmured.

Wilson patted the young man on his leg and proceeds to explain to him everything that will need to be done during his surgery.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

House and Wilson walk side by side down one of the many hallways of the hospital chatting back and forth when House notices that they pass by Calvin's father. "Was that the kids dad?" he asked, turning around to do a double take.

"Yeah," Wilson replied with a shrug. "Why?"

"Why is he just standing there in the hallway? Did the kid get the biopsy done already?"

Wilson shrugged again and leaned against the wall. "He just won't go into the room."

House furrowed his brow a minute, thinking. "Was he still sweating?" Wilson was about to answer when House turned around and headed back towards the dad, making Wilson quickly follow behind him. "Where are they from?" he questioned.

"Uhh… Montana, why? What's going on?" Wilson asked, doing his best to keep up with House as he quickly moved back down the hallway.

"You were right, it's a parasite. Cancel the biopsy… It'll kill him." House proceeds to bang his cane against the glass wall to get Calvin's dad's attention. "Daddy!" he yelled, "Come with me."

House led both Wilson and Calvin's dad to the entrance of Calvin's room, when his father decided to speak up. "I'm not going in there."

"Your son asked to talk to you," House assured as he opened the door to the room and stepped inside. Wilson and Calvin's dad following close behind him.

Calvin opened his eyes and upon seeing his father, he narrowed his eyes. "What's he doing here?"

House slides the sliding door closed before he turned to face Calvin. "Your dad wanted to talk to you."

Calvin's father scoffed and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Did you two hunt together?" House asked suddenly. "Foxes… did you hunt fox?"

Calvin's dad shrugged. "It's Montana."

House walks up to the foot of Calvin's bed. "The masses in your chest are not tumors. They're parasitic cysts from a bug called echinococcosis. When you touch a dead fox, they jump aboard. They can hunker down for decades - growing, spawning, shopping, and putting on plays."

Calvin furrowed his brow. "I've already been tested for parasites."

House rolled his eyes. "Okay, it's cancer. You happy? The cysts isolate the parasites, keeping them from showing up in stool samples, even in blood tests, cardiac—"

"You don't need me for this," Calvin's dad interrupted, turning to go towards the door of the room.

House pointed his cane at him to halt him from walking. "But you have the exact same thing in your liver."

"I have cirrhosis," Calvin's dad retorted.

House shook his head. "Liver cysts have identical symptoms with one addition, a fever. Now the liver cysts we can test for. Your diagnosis could confirm Calvin's. So, option A, we draw some blood…"

"No," the man said firmly, holding up his hands, "You're not touching me."

"You see, this is why I need you here," House continued, "I want you to tell your son that you won't take a simple painless blood test to save his life."

Calvin's dad looked over at his son and pointed at him. "You never have had any regrets about what happened to your mother," he accused.

Calvin sighed. "Good lord, Dad…"

"If you'd have worn a damn rubber, you'd have been fine; could have saved her life. Then you wouldn't be lying here needing my help!"

Calvin narrowed his eyes at his father, "I'm living my life the way that I want to."

House looked between the father and son before he zeroed in on the dad. "Are you going to give me some blood or not?" he questioned roughly.

"Look," the man growled, "If he doesn't give a damn then neither do I."

House took a deep breath and shook his head. "Okay, I guess were going with option B then. Why did your wife kill herself?" he prodded. "Did she hate you?"

"She was diabetic!" Calvin shot.

Calvin's dad took a couple steps towards Calvin and pointed at him. "You know nothing about my Maria," he growled.

"Either Maria wanted to die, or she was both fat _and _stupid," House goaded, "Used a Hershey bar instead of a gun. And girls with big appetites, well they just can't get enough - of anything!"

"Shut up!" Calvin cried out.

"I bet she ate every devil dog in the county!" House continued.

"Shut up!" Calvin's father growled out.

House looked over to the father and took a couple steps towards him. "Just to be clear, I wasn't talking about the snack—" House quickly reeled backwards as Calvin's dad had punched him in the jaw.

"C'mon you son of a bitch!" the man hollered.

House grins wryly as he rubbed his jaw. "Thank you… that means I can do this." He took a single step forward and hit the man in the abdomen with his cane, causing him to stagger and fall against the wall. "We're going to need Epi in here stat!" he yelled out.

"Are you out of your damn mind?" Calvin yelled.

House limped to stand toe to toe with Calvin's dad and placed his cane across the man's neck.

"House!" Wilson yelled, but watched on as House didn't move away.

"Notice how you can't breathe?" The father wheezes and starts going into shock. "Now either that's the cane, or I just ruptured one of those liver cysts we were chatting about and you've gone into anaphylactic shock, exactly the same as your son did when he accidentally tripped against my friend's car... I'm just _so_ excited to find out which." House took his cane off his neck and the father slid to the floor clutching at his abdomen. "I'm gonna schedule you both for surgery."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

House sat in Cuddy's office, playing with one of her paperweights as he sat in one of the seats in front of her desk. "I had two successful surgeries, which puts me over my weekly quota. Can I have next week off?"

Cuddy sighed and took the paperweight from House's hands. "You family members were assaulted."

"It was self-defense!" House argued.

"You baited the man and you know it," Cuddy retorted.

House sighed and shifted in his seat. "You're right. I was asking for it. The low-cut blouse, the 'Do-Me' pumps," he replied sarcastically.

"You flooded the man's stomach with a parasite. He could sue… go and see Stacy."

House narrowed his eyes at her. "I am not going to see her. All she asks me about is me and Cameron."

"House, Stacy is our resident lawyer. If you had any issues with her working here, you should have told me so when I hired her."

"I'll go and see her," he replied as he stood and straightened his shirt, "But I'm not going to be happy about it." He turned and left Cuddy's office, leaving her to sit back and watch him go, all while shaking her head.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Later that night Cameron and House sat on Cameron's couch in her apartment while she gently held a rag filled with ice to his jaw. "I cannot believe you hit a patient," she said quietly.

House raised an eyebrow at her before he smirked. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

Cameron chuckled. "I guess not… but it wasn't the right thing to do and you know it."

"How else are you supposed to get the unbelievably stubborn to listen?"

"Hitting is never the answer hon, that much I do know," Cameron replied and watched as House's eyes softened at her words. "What?" she murmured.

"That's the first pet name you've ever called me," House confessed.

"Do you not like it?" she asked.

House smiled and gently took the rag from her hand and placed it on the coffee table before he pulled her into his embrace. "I didn't say that," he whispered.

"You can be really sweet when you want to be."

House chuckled and pressed his lips to her temple, then her cheek. "I've been known for it a time or two," he purred before kissing down her jaw and then along the side of her neck. "Bedroom?" he murmured.

"I thought you'd never ask—" A squeal left Cameron as House scooped her bidal style into his arms and stood, before he slowly made his way into the bedroom and shut the door behind him.


	26. Chapter 26

**AN: I am so sorry that this has taken this long to update. I am hugely thankful for the new followers that I am getting for this story. You guys are the ones that keep this going! My new job has been taking up a lot of my time, but I want you guys to know that I'm not going anywhere. I will continue to write for you guys, even if it's at a slower pace than the usual. I hope that you enjoy this chapter and as always please leave me comments and feel free to follow me! **

**love - Mich**

Foreman and Chase sat around the table in the diagnostics conference room when Cuddy walked in with the sound of her black platform heels and a loud huff. "Where is the best diagnostics department sixty miles from here?"

Chase shrugged as he leaned back in his chair. "We are… why?"

"_We_ are not here. House is in Baltimore with Cameron and Stacy lying about his billings," Cuddy answered.

Foreman shrugged. "So?" he questioned. "I'm certified."

"_You_ are not House," Cuddy corrected.

"Why did you put me in charge of the department if you don't think I can handle it?" Foreman growled.

Cuddy sighed and faced him fully. "Because Foreman. It's temporary while House cannot be here."

"What are the symptoms?"

"Seriously?" she admonished. "Are you going to try and diagnose them without seeing them, try to be just like House?"

Foreman narrowed his eyes at his boss. "I need to know the symptoms so I can tell you which hospitals to recommend them to."

Cuddy cleared her throat and opened up the file that she held in her hand. "The EMT's report states the patient struck his head and is suffering from aphasia."

"A neurological problem then. Now I know a lot of good people in that field, seeing as I happen to _be_ a neurologist."

"You're really going to pout?" Cuddy asked.

"Not at all," Foreman answered, "Taylor's pretty good. House was going to hire him until he saw my resume."

Chase snickered to himself as he looked back and forth in between the two. _This is a riot_, he thought.

Cuddy sat the file down on the table and propped on arm on her hip. "The patient is Michael Thomas. He's written twelve books? Exposed three administrations? Before he exposes us—"

Foreman held up a hand, halting her rant. "I get it; famous patient needs a famous doctor. I'll contact Taylor."

"Thank you," Cuddy answered with a smile and picks the file up, turning to leave the room, when Foreman spoke up again.

"Or you could call him?" he suggested. "I could end up saying something stupid."

Cuddy turned back towards Foreman, who was raising an eyebrow at her. "Oh my lord!" she hollered. "House is easier." Cuddy tossed the patients file onto the table in front of Foreman and left the room to the sound of both been chuckling.

Chase leaned over Michael and shines a light into his each of his eyes, checking the reaction of his pupils. "Have you taken any drugs?" he asked.

Michael watched Chase's movements before responding. "I displaced my function… laid back," he replied, only to furrow his eyebrows and sigh.

Michael's wife stood at the edge of the room, letting the doctors run their tests. "He used to drink regularly, but he's been sober now for almost a year."

Foreman nodded and faced Michael. "Mr. Thomas, you think that you're talking normally but your speech is impaired." He watched as Michael looked over to his wife and he turned his head to look at her as well. "He knows what he wants to say, but when he reaches for a word his brain finds something else," he explained.

"I grapple average," Michael suddenly stated, causing everyone to look at him. "Cancer glisten."

Mrs. Thomas looked at Michael, then to Foreman and Chase. "He doesn't realize he's saying it wrong?"

"It sounds normal to him," Chase answered as he grabbed a pan and paper from his front pocket. "Could you write your name for me?" he asked, handing the pad to Michael.

Michael looked around at everyone in the room with a bewildered look on his face. He leaned forward in his place on the bed and attempted to write, only his hand shook as he made a couple of jagged lines on the paper.

Chase nodded to him and gently took the pad and paper back. "It's called agraphia, the loss of the ability to write. Most of the time it's temporary."

Foreman took in a deep breath and jotted down a couple of notes. "How hard did he hit his head?" he asked.

His wife grimaced at the thought. "It was a pretty loud crack… made an awful sound."

He nodded and turned back to Michael. "Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

"Of golf!" Michael exclaimed.

Foreman shook his head. "Don't tell me a sentence. Give me a simple yes or no; do you understand what I'm saying?"

Michael struggled a bit and let out a huff of breath. "Yes." He finally answered.

Chase was about to speak when another woman rushed into Michael's room. "Mike!" she exclaimed. "Is he alright, Tina?"

Tina turned and shrugged. "We're not sure," she answered, turning to Chase and Foreman. "This is Mike's editor."

"I'm Maya Fipps. I just wanted to make sure that you got the right story from the EMT's."

Chase furrowed his brow. "How many are there?"

"He didn't trip," Maya stated, "He fell, out of nowhere. His foot kind of jerked, and then he fell. It just looked like he tripped."

Meanwhile House and Stacy sat in an office waiting for the Medicaid officer to walk in. Stacy looked over at House and watched him for a moment as he played with his cane. "Remember what we talked about. Don't say anything and don't attempt to defend your billing practices."

House rolled his eyes. "Haven't we been over this already?"

"If I thought you'd listen, I wouldn't say it," Stacy replied, just as the man they had been waiting on entered the office.

"Good afternoon," He greeted as he sat down behind his desk and began to look through the large folder that he held.

"Good afternoon," Stacy returned in kind, while House just sat in silence.

"So," the man began, "Every case that you have rates a five on the complexity scale."

Stacy nodded, "Dr. House has a very specialized practice."

The man nodded. "Alright then, let's go through these then shall we?"

Houses eyes widened. "_All _of them?" he questioned, looking at the mountain of folders that he had sitting on his desk.

"If you had any lunch plans, I would cancel them if I were you."

House sighed and sat back in his chair, a grim look on his face. _I hope Cameron won't be too upset for me not meeting her like I had promised her_, he thought.

Back at the hospital, Foreman and Chase sat in the team's conference room. "If Michael didn't trip, something made him fall. A stroke? Seizure?" Foreman thought aloud.

Chase shrugged. "Thirty people say that he tripped when he fell. Only one person is saying that he didn't. Who are we to believe?"

"His symptoms can all be explained by head trauma; causes a contusion or a seizure that causes the aphasia. We should get an EEG," Chase babbled.

Foreman nodded and noted it on the white board. "If it was a stroke, it could also be a clotting issue."

"Even if he fell, drug use could be pretty likely, I'll order a tox screen." Chase stood and was about to head out of the room when Foreman stopped him.

"I'm not done with the differential Chase," Foreman warned.

Chase furrowed his brow at him. "You're _not_ my boss." He quickly stated.

Foreman rolled his eyes and huffed. "I am House's boss right now, which makes me your boss."

"Are you the person that signs my paychecks?" Chase argued. "Are you hiring or firing anyone?"

"It's not about that and you know it," Foreman replied.

"The only thing you have been asked to do is to look over House in case he does something stupid," Chase replied sternly.

"Someone has to be in charge of everything."

"Why?" Chase questioned, getting frustrated.

"Do you think we should all be able to do whatever we want to do? Maybe have a race to the diagnosis?" Foreman asked.

Chase sighed. "I think it should be a discussion among peers. We're grown up enough to reach a consensus."

Foreman sighed in return and nodded in agreement. "Go on and do the tox screen, come back when you get the results."

Back in the Medicaid office a few hours later, Mr. Kline sat at his desk, reading through yet another file that contained one of House's cases. "Patient, 62-yrs-old. You prescribed Viagra. I look in vain for the words 'erectile dysfunction' in the notes for a Margarete Sanders?"

House shrugged in his seat, although a ghost of a smile was on his face. "She had a heart condition," he stated.

Mr. Kline raised an eyebrow. "You ran out of nitroglycerin then I assume?"

"She also had low blood pressure, so giving her nitro would be dangerous. The little blue pills improve blood flow, they're vasodilators. That's why you sometimes get the headaches," House explained.

Stacy sighed, "I think Dr. House understands - "

"Of course I understand, the woman has a heart condition, so she's on her own. A man can't nail his office assistant, its national crisis time."

Mr. Kline looked at House sternly. "Are you _seriously_ expecting us to foot the bill for the off-label use of this medication?"

"Fine, I'll pay for it," House answered. He leaned to the side in his chair and reached for his wallet. "How much are the pills? Exactly how many did she take?"

Stacy's eyes widen as she slaps him on the arm. "House! Put your money away."

"Are you trying to bribe me Dr. House?" Mr. Kline questioned.

House was about to make another retort, but Stacy butted in. "I'm sorry Mr. Kline, my client is an idiot," She looked over at House, who had the audacity to look shocked at her words. "But is he wrong about the pills?" she asked.

"The off-use of any drug is not sanctioned –"

Stacy smiled sweetly. "You're retiring in three weeks. You've been doing this job nearly twenty years, aren't you tired of administering a policy you disagree with?" she asked.

Mr. Kline shook his head. "I never said that I disagree with –"

"What can they do to you?" Stacy asked, "Doctor House _is_ sorry," she continued, looking pointedly over at House, "about his earlier outburst."

House readily agreed. "Absolutely sir."

House and Stacy walked out into the lobby of the Medicaid building, both with a smile on their face. "Do you normally do background checks on Medicaid personnel?" he questioned.

Stacy shrugged as she held the door open for House to walk through it. "I do what I need to for my clients," she answered, checking her watch. "Plus I just made a new personal record."

House nodded. "It actually worked out since I made a reservation for dinner tonight."

"Gotta date?" Stacy asked.

House smirked. "You know it."

"Just make sure that you make your flight, that's all I ask. Cuddy will have both our heads if you and Cameron don't make your flight. Where is she anyhow?"

"She said something about deciding to go shopping while she has free time. Girl thing I assume."

Stacy chuckled. "You would assume right. I'll see you back at the hospital House."

House nodded and watched as Stacy turned and walked down the street. He then pulled out his cellphone and quickly dialed Cameron. "Answering on the second ring… awaiting my call?" he asked.

Cameron chuckled. "Maybe…"

"How was your shopping?" he asked, trying to hail a cab.

"You're actually interested?"

"If being interested is wondering if you bought any sexy lingerie, then yes."

"If you must know, I had a good time. It's nice to be able to relax for once and have a little down time."

House nodded as he got into a cab. "That's why I invited you along. Where are you? I just got a cab and I can meet you."

"Umm," Cameron looked around and spotted a park down the street from her. "Seely Park."

"I'll be there shortly. We have reservations before our flight back home."

"Taking me on a date Dr. House?" Cameron teased.

House chuckled. "Yes, I am… anything wrong with that?"

Cameron smiled as she walked into the park and sat on the nearest bench. "Not at all."


	27. Chapter 27

**AN: I'm sorry for the wait! I hope that you enjoy the chapter! I want to take a moment and thank all of the people who have recently followed and favorited this story. I would never have thought that it would become this popular. You guys are amazing!**

Cameron sat across from House and looked around at their surroundings for what seemed like the tenth time since they'd been seated. "I cannot believe that you went all out like this."

A smirk appeared on House's face. "Why shouldn't I? I figured that you'd like the seafood that they serve here, and it's close to the museum if you'd like to go and check it out… after dessert that is," he replied as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"You're in a good mood. What prompted all of this?" She asked as she grabbed her wine glass and took a generous sip of the red liquid.

House shrugged. "The meeting with the Medicaid guy ended well, so I was in the mood to celebrate. Plus you're right on it being nice to have some decent down time once in a while."

She smiled at him just as the waiter walked up to their table with a chocolate lava cake that looked to die for, along with two spoons. "Enjoy," the man said kindly as he took their other plates from the table and also placed the check face down in front of House.

"Thank you," Cameron responded earnestly, and watched as the man nodded at them both before he turned and walked away. She looked over at House and smirked as he'd already had a spoon in hand and had taken a large bite from the cake and ice cream. A giggle left her lips as she noticed a smear of chocolate on the corner of his mouth.

"What?" he asked nonchalantly, a true smile coming to his face.

"You have chocolate on the corner of your mouth," she replied simply as she took a bite of the sweet treat with her own spoon. House shrugged and continued to eat another bite of the dessert which only made Cameron giggle at him again with a roll of her eyes. "You are such a kid sometimes."

"So?" House questioned, with his mouth full.

Cameron chuckled as she quickly snatched the last bite of the treat before she sat back in her chair. "I am stuffed… and we still have to go back to the hotel and get our things so we can prepare for our flight. It looks like the museum will have to be a different time."

House nodded in agreement as he grabbed the check and stood. "Let's go then." He gently took her hand and helped her from her chair. He then discreetly paid the check at the front table before he led her outside into the now cold weather.

"I don't want to know how much that cost you do I?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around herself.

He looked down at her and quickly shrugged off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it," he answered. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they began to make the short walk to their hotel as it began to snow.

Cameron rolled her eyes as she grasped onto his hand that wasn't occupied by his cane. When they reached their hotel and got into the elevator, she could deal with it no longer. She got his attention before she pulled him down to her level and kissed him soundly, running her tongue along his bottom lip.

House growled in appreciation as he quickly engulfed her in his arms and kissed her deeply in return. He was beginning to play with the hem of her shirt, when she pulled away from him with a smirk on her face. "Why did you stop?" he asked huskily, partially out of breath from lust and arousal.

The elevator dinged, telling the couple that they had reached their designated floor, causing Cameron to smile widely at him. "I wanted the chocolate that was at the corner of your mouth," she answered simply, leaving a very aroused House standing in the elevator as she began to walk down the hallway.

_Woman… you will pay dearly for that_, he thought as he quickly moved to follow her before the elevator doors could shut on him.

Meanwhile back at the hospital Chase and Foreman were running tests on Michael. Foreman held an ultrasound wand to Michael's throat as he watched the screen next to him. "This will show us if there's a problem with your carotid artery that might cause a blood clot. If it travelled to his brain, it could explain the aphasia and the fall," he explained.

Tina watched Foreman for a moment before she turned to Chase. "You said you're doing an EEG is that for the same thing?" she asked.

"It's just a precaution," Chase answered, "We think the trauma caused some of the swelling and we need to keep him stable until the body can repair the damage on its own."

Maya looked between the two of them. "Neither of you think this is the problem though, do you?" she questioned.

Foreman glanced over at Chase before he looked back over at Maya. "We're covering all of the bases ma'am, to be safe." Just as Foreman was going to say more, Michael began to choke as his monitor began to beep at them.

Chase looked up in alarm. "His O2 stats are falling."

Foreman pulled a stethoscope from around his neck and quickly began to listen to his chest. "There's fluid in his lungs."

Chase quickly puts an oxygen mask on Michael's face to help him breathe. "Push forty V."

Foreman shook his head and sighed. "He's losing his respiratory drive, we need to intubate, now."

Chase and Foreman both reach for the drawer that contained the needed equipment. They pause for a short moment before they help each other intubate him successfully and watch as his stats begin to return to normal.

Later in the day Foreman and Chase stare at a chest x-ray of Michael. "Then there were two… aphasia and fluid in the lungs. A seizure cannot cause both of these."

Chase crossed his arms over his chest, hi eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Neither can a stroke."

"Unless he had an abnormal heart rhythm to begin with," Foreman noted.

Chase sighed as he looked down at the piece of paper he was holding. "Then there was one," he handed the paper that showed test results on it, to Foreman. "The urine test was positive for amphetamines."

Foreman looked over the paper, and then looked up at Chase. "Amphetamines don't cause pulmonary edema though."

"They do if you smoke them," Chase clarified.

Foreman furrowed his brow. "This doesn't make sense. In one of his books he went on and on about how he gave up drugs and alcohol, said that it saved his life."

Chase walked over and sat in House's plush chair and began to play with his oversized tennis ball. "Everybody lies," he stated, quoting his boss's words.

Wilson stood in the cafeteria as he listened to one of the nurses sob and talk about her recent ex. He nodded in sympathy as she continued to talk about how the relationship started out so perfectly, and just as he was about to respond to her, his cell began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID before he looked back up at the woman in front of him. "Excuse me, I have to take this." The woman nodded with a sniffle and Wilson turned and exited the cafeteria as he answered the call. "Hello?"

House stood I front of a large window at the airport as he watched the heavily falling snow outside. "Hi honey, how're the kids? Are they fairing okay?" he asked, before deciding to clarify. "How is Mr. Aphasia?"

Wilson furrowed his brow as he turned a corner and headed towards the elevator. "Cuddy called you?"

"Everybody covers their ass," House answered simply as he looked down at Cameron, who was dozing in one of the airport chairs.

"Well," Wilson started, "He has a pulmonary edema. Chase did a tox screen, and it came back positive for amphetamines, he did the dance of victory."

House smirked. "I bet there's another shoe."

Wilson chuckled. "I though the kids didn't call you?"

"I know the way you tell stories," he answered in return just as he sat beside Cameron, who shuffled to lean heavily against him.

"Foreman went to talk to Mr. Thomas about the results when he found him to be running a temperature."

"So, it's not the drugs, he's just got a bad rep… alright, I gotta go, they'll probably be trying to reach me."

"You don't have call waiting?" Wilson asked.

House rolled his eyes. "I'm hanging up on you now," he stated before he pulled the cell from his ear and ended the call.

Meanwhile Wilson stared at his phone and sighed. "But it's only five dollars a month," he said aloud.

Back in the conference room Foreman and Chase sat at the large table and stared at the white board. Chase continuously rolled House's tennis ball back and forth between his hands. "Drugs don't cause a temperature."

Foreman sighed, but nodded in agreement. "Encephalitis or meningitis are the most obvious suspects. We need to start him on antibiotics."

"It could be an auto-immune disease. Lupus, Behçet's... we could start him on a high dose of steroids," Chase suggested, just as the phone that sat in the middle of the table began to ring.

"Except if he does have encephalitis, steroids could weaken his immune system," countered Foreman as he reached to answer the phone. "Foreman here."

"How high is the fever?" Foreman raised his eyebrows in surprise, causing Chase to furrow his brow at him in confusion. "Put me on speaker, and why haven't you called me?" The caller said, causing Foreman pushed the button on the phone to speaker.

"A hundred and one, how did you know?" Foreman asked.

"What, you think you guys could have a party as soon as the parents are gone and I won't hear about it?" House answered, causing Chase to raise his own eyebrows in surprise and scoot closer to the phone. "Start with broad spectrum antibiotics for possible bacterial meningitis, and an anti-viral in case we luck out and its herpes encephalitis," House added.

"What if it's auto immune?" Cameron asked, having woken up to House's phone call, causing Foreman and Chase to smile upon hearing her voice.

House turned and smiled at her. "Well then we're screwed, which is why we need more information. Are there any genetic issues within the family?"

"The man can't talk, his medical records are sketchy, and the wife's only known him a couple of years," Chase answered.

"What about the MRI?" House questioned. "Did it show anything?"

"The CT scan was negative," Foreman replied, causing House to sigh.

"A CT scan… is that short for MRI?" he asked sarcastically. "Great, that saves us a lot of time."

Chase rolled his eyes. "We have an MRI scheduled in twenty minutes; it was the earliest we could get the machine."

House sat back in his chair as Cameron looked over at him with a concerned look on her face. "I teach you to lie, cheat, and steal, and as soon as my back is turned you wait in line?" he questioned, causing Foreman and Chase to chuckle. "Get an MRI, and get a better medical history."

Foreman bristled in frustration. "But the man can't talk!"

"Who cares? He'd probably lie to you anyway. We'll be a bit late, our flight is delayed. I'll see you in a few hours." House hung up the phone and looked over at Cameron. "What?"

"Nothing. I know it bothers you to be away from a case, is all," she said softly as she reached up and ran a hand through his hair before she looked back out of the window. "Our flight may be more than just delayed."

House sighed and nodded in agreement. "I'm beginning to think the same thing."

Cameron leaned over and placed a gentle, slow kiss to House's lips, then stood. "I'll go get us some coffee okay?"

He smiled up at her and nodded, before he watched as she turned and headed towards one of the many shops that were in the airport.


	28. Chapter 28

**Guys, I am so sorry that this has taken so long to post. A lot has happened in the time between the last chapter and this one. I fell and fractured my elbow, so I've been dealing with that. I'm doing better, and I'm not in a cast, but it's bothersome and painful. Then the pandemic happened and everyone's life has had to be altered. I hope that everyone is doing well and is safe. I hope that this story gives you a way to escape for a little while. As always, like, follow, and review. Revies make me happy!**

Chase stood to the side as they helped Michael into a wheelchair. Once they were on the way and they began to wheel him towards the next room for a test, Chase began asking him questions. "Does anyone in your family or family history have neurological issues?"

Michael shook his head, "No."

"Have you been out of the country in the last five years?" Chase continued.

After looking behind him cautiously, Michael nodded. "Yes."

"Three years?" Chase asked, trying to narrow down how often he'd traveled.

"Yes."

"Two years?"

Back in Michael's hospital room Foreman stood in front of Tina, Michael's wife, wanting to ask her the same questions to see if everything would stay lined up between her and his patient.

"He stopped traveling for work two years ago, after we became serious," Tina explained.

"Have you gone on any vacations?"

"His last one was six months ago, it was a golf resort in Brisbane."

Meanwhile Chase had moved from asking Michael questions, to talking to their friend Maya.

"There was no way it was a golf resort," she argued, "Knowing Mike; he was going to every bar in the area before settling down."

This caused chase to sigh and return to Michael to ask him more questions, hoping to bring more light to the case. "Have you been drinking?" he asked.

Michael shook his head. "No."

"What about amphetamines?"

"No."

Chase narrowed his eyes at him. "You tested positive for them," he clarified, causing Michael to turn and give him a look.

Foreman and Chase took turns and questioned everyone for some time, trying to get some sort of real answers. Currently they were showing Michael and his wife the MRI scans of his brain.

"There's a little edema, brain swelling and an area of scarring," Chase said as he pointed the different places out on the image.

"Is that what caused the aphasia?" Tina asked.

"Actually, that's what's odd," Chase continued, "The scarring is not in the area of the brain normally associated with conduction aphasia. And it's old. So it happened before he hit his head. Could have been a small stroke or some other underlying condition that could be causing this or it might have nothing to do with it at all." Chase looked over at Michael. "Have you ever had head trauma before?" He watched as Michael shook his head, "Ever had any numbness on one side before? Or dizziness?" Again, Michael shook his head at him.

Meanwhile, back at the airport, House stared out the large pained windows with a cup of coffee in hand as he watched the snow come down in blankets. The attendant at the desk had just come over the loud speaker to say that all of the flights for the night were either delayed or cancelled, which made him sigh. "Great," he grumbled.

Cameron came up beside him and placed a hand on his back. "I got us a room at the airport hotel. It's better than staying here on a cot all night."

He turned and looked down at her, giving her a smile. "Thanks, you didn't have to do that."

She shrugged. "I know, but you didn't have to bring me here with you to do all of this either. Do you want to head to the room now? Or wander a bit longer?"

"We can go now; leg's stiff as it is with these damn hard seats."

Cameron nodded and rubbed his back. "Let's go then. We're on the second floor."

House let her take his hand and begin to lead him out of the airport terminal and towards the hotel. _I'm glad that I brought her along, it would be a drag without her being here,_ he thought.

Back at the hospital, the team had come to a dead end and wondered where the scarring on his brain could have come from. They came to the conclusion that they should search Michael's home and office to see if they could find out anything that they were unwilling to tell them about.

The search leaded for Chase and Foreman to find and unfinished home improvement project and several different types of medicines, but nothing that would give them a definitive answer that they were looking for. When they returned to the hospital and checked on Michael they found him to be grunting and acting like he was in pain.

"I think it's his stomach!" Tina said as both Chase and Foreman rushed to his bedside.

"A till in the jug," Michael complained.

"Was it something you ate?" Foreman asked.

Michael grabbed a metal fork from his hospital tray and put it in his mouth, before running it along his tongue.

Tina sighed. "He keeps doing that, I don't know why."

Chase furrowed his brow in confusion. "Are you hungry?"

"No," Michael said firmly.

"He's in pain," Foreman stated, "Is it a sharp pain?" he asked.

"No!" Michael yelled, and proceeded to place the fork on his tongue again. "Too indigent."

"Taste?" Chase asked.

"Yes!" Michael exclaimed.

"A metallic taste?" Foreman questioned.

Michael nodded excessively. "Yes!"

"I'll be right back," Chase said, then rushed out of the room.

House lay back on the hotel bed and watched as Cameron grabbed a pillow and proceed to prop up his leg. "You really are too good for me you know that?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"Oh really now?" Cameron asked as she moved to hover over him.

"Yes really." House glanced down at her lips before he looked back into her eyes to find them slightly dilated, which made him smile devilishly before he reached up and grasped her behind her neck and pulled her in for a heated kiss.

Cameron eagerly kissed him back as she cupped his cheek, feeling his three day old stubble scratch against her skin. She found herself sitting on the very edge of the bed as she laid on his chest, feeling as House moved his hand up into her hair. He had just nipped and licked at her bottom lip when her phone began to ring, causing her to pull away from him with a sigh.

"Ignore it," House said softly, now caressing the back of her neck again.

"It could be the hospital, about the case." She fully sat up and retrieved her cell from her pocket, then answered it. "Hello?"

"House around?" Wilson asked.

Cameron smirked, and then handed the phone out to House. "For you."

House grumbled before he took the phone with his free hand, letting the other one wander down Cameron's back. "House."

"Did you know your phone's dead? Do you ever charge it?" Wilson complained.

House rolled his eyes, causing Cameron to chuckle. "They recharge? I just keep buying new phones," he replied sarcastically.

A sigh could be heard from Wilson. "I thought you would want know your aphasia guy is tasting metal."

"What's his creatinine level at?"

A six point eight right now and his kidneys are failing. Foreman's got him on dialysis and he's stable for the moment - unlike Cuddy, who's suicidal."

In the diagnostic conference room, Cuddy paced back and forth while Foreman and Chase watched her. Foreman cleared his throat and tapped his pen on the table. "It's either meningitis or encephalitis, or maybe auto-immune."

Cuddy turned and glared at Foreman. "That's perfect. It seems like you _really_ narrowed it down over dinner! Here's the plan, we talk to House…"

"We've tried," Chase cut in, "He's not answering his cell."

"It's obvious that we have to do a lumbar puncture," Foreman added, "We have no choice."

Cuddy turned to retaliate when the phone in the center of the table began to ring. She quickly answered it and put it on speakerphone.

House's voice filled the room. "You have to do it, just right."

"What are you talking about?" Chase asked.

"Well, either you've decided to do a lumbar puncture, or you have to fire me so that I _can't_ fire all of you as soon as I get back in charge. Is Cuddy there ranting?"

Cuddy sighed. "If I had known that you would have been out of contact…"

"They can handle it," House interrupted, his voice stern.

"_Right_, so far only three organ systems have failed," Cuddy replied sarcastically.

House moved to sit up further on the bed. "Ok, they can't. It doesn't matter; the guy's not stable enough to move. So go rant in your own office."

Cuddy huffed. "_Fine_. Call me when you're done," she snapped, then turned and leaned against the wall. She looked to Foreman and Chase and nodded at them to keep going as if she weren't in the room.

Chase leaned forward in his seat and put his elbows on the table. "What do you mean about doing the LP just right? It's not like we'll screw it up."

"The odds are that this guy knows something that we don't," House stated.

Foreman rolled his eyes in frustration. "The man could know the meaning to life as we know it House. The man cannot communicate!"

"Have you had any indication that he's tried to communicate something important to you?"

"No," Chase answered.

House nodded to himself. "That's because you guys haven't scared him enough. I'm sure you've been all 'oh we'll take really good care of you', so why should he say anything? When you prep him, tell him he's going to die. Crush all hope. Don't let Chase do it. Cuddy, you got a problem with any of that?" he asked snugly.

Chase and Foreman looked at Cuddy, just as she looked back at them with her eyes wide. "No, I don't."


	29. Chapter 29

AN: I am sorry that it has taken so long to give you guys an update. I know it's not long, but I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Foreman and Chase dealt their warning to Michael when they told him he would be having an LP done. It didn't seem to have the effect that they wanted. During the LP Chase decided to play the 'good cop'. HE looked down at Michael as he prepared his back. "How are you holding up?" he asked. "I know what you were told earlier is scary but-"

"I couldn't tackle the bear!" Michael pleaded as he turned and grabbed Chases arm, "They took my stain!"

House looked over to the bathroom door as he heard the sound of the shower turning off, distracting him from the tv show that he'd found on the small television that sat in their room. "Everything okay in there?" he asked, just loud enough for his voice to be heard, hearing Cameron laugh in response.

"I'm fine Greg."

_Using first names… wonder what's going on in her mind_, he thought as he adjusted himself to sit up against the headboard of the bed. "Are you sure? I could always be of assistance you know."

Allison opened the bathroom door, still wrapped in her towel, and leaned against the doorframe. "How much assistance could you give me?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at him. She watched as his eyes grew wide and he quickly moved to sit on the edge of the bed, which only made her giggle.

"As much as my lady desires," he replied.

"Your lady?" she asked with a smirk as she walked up to him, but stayed just out of his reach.

House grinned wryly. "Of course. You are my lady aren't you?" he teased.

"Yes I am," she replied with a giggle as he lunged out to grip her around the waist and pull her to stand between his legs, making her let out a squeak of surprise. Allison ran her hands though his hair as he rested his head on her stomach and stared into her eyes. "You're awful cuddly tonight," she murmured.

"Nothing wrong with that I hope," he answered softly.

She smiled down at him and shook her head. "Not at all."

House stood then and ran his hands up her sides to rest on her upper back. "Good," he whispered before he leaned down to press his lips against hers. He felt her respond instantly as she wrapped her arms around his neck to bring him closer to her. His hands moved to untie her towel just as his cellphone began to ring on the night stand.

Allison made a sound of frustration and dropped her head to his shoulder, making him chuckle. "You might want to get that," she grumbled.

"If I must," he replied as he leaned to the side and answered the phone. "House."

"You're on speakerphone," Foreman responded on the other end of the line.

House pulled Allison to his chest and continued to run his free hand up and down her back. "How did the LP go? Condensed version please."

Chase scooted closer to the speaker and cleared his throat. "Preliminary results are some kind of infection, which... narrows it down..."

"From infinity," House interrupted just as he pulled away from Allison's tender kiss.

"At the rate his organs are deteriorating, he's got maybe a day or two," Foreman added.

House sighed as he felt Allison nip at his jaw, then at his neck. "Ok! Well, call me back when you have something." He pulled the phone away from his ear and quickly kissed Allison deeply, his free hand moving to grip into her hair, when he faintly heard Chase before he could hang up.

"He tried to tell us something!"

Reluctantly House put the phone back up to his ear as he slowly pulled away from Allison's lips. "What did he say?"

"You were wrong, it wasn't the fear," Chase stated, "He opened up to me when I..."

House looked at Allison apologetically and reluctantly let go of her to sit on the edge of the bed again. "It was a sympathetic presence after a traumatic moment, a classic interrogation technique. What did he say?"

Chase sighed openly, knowing that House knew their patient would respond to someone being sympathetic. "He couldn't tackle the bear."

Foreman rolled his eyes. "Now all we need is the English to aphasic dictionary."

"A fluent aphasic retrieves words that are stored somewhere close to the one he wants," House explained, "They can be filed by sounds or by meaning. So, if he wants to say table, he could say... label, or he could say chair. Or he could just say Jabberwocky, there's no way to tell." He watched as Allison removed her towel in front of him before she quickly donned a pair of boy shorts and one of his shirts. _Minx,_ he thought.

"He also said that they took his stain," Chase said.

House furrowed his brow in thought. "Hold on," he pulled the phone from his ear to talk to Allison, "I'm going to take this phone downstairs, so I don't disturb you. Is that ok?" he asked her, who was now sitting on the bed beside him.

She nodded. "If you need help, just call me," she answered, and then leaned behind her to grab his cane that rested on the bed, and then handed it to him.

He took the cane from her gently and smiled at her before he put the phone back up to his ear. "Keep him talking. Write down everything he says." He paused from opening the door of the hotel room, and then turned back to Allison. "Did you bring any make up with you?" he asked. "A dark shade?"

She quickly nodded and walked over to their suitcase and pulled out a red lipstick and turned to give it to him. "Don't lose it."

"I won't," he replied and pecked her lips before he left the hotel room.

Back at the hospital Chase and Foreman sat in front of Michael with pads of paper. "What do you mean by stain?" Foreman asked. "Dirty? Soiled?"

Michael shook his head. "No." he stated.

"What about something that rhymes?" Chase asked. "Pain or brain?"

Michael's wife sighed as she watched on. "He's dying and the both of you are playing brain games with him?"

Foreman sighed. "Let's try this again. What do you mean when you say bear? Do you mean naked?" He watched as Michael sighed and laid his head back on his pillow, looking defeated.

House sat on the floor of the airport under the announcement screens. The opposite wall made of plasterboard had been written over in lipstick with the two sentences Michael kept repeating. Branching off of the two sentences was anything that Michael could be meaning when he said them. House stared at the words he wrote while bouncing a pink ball he'd found in one of the seats. He glanced at the clock to see it had just turned Three thirty in the morning, causing him to sigh.

Allison walked into the large empty room and walked up to House with a phone charger in hand. "You've been down here for a while," she said softly.

"Russian red shows up well on sheet rock."

She chuckled as she sat down beside him and stared at the opposite wall. "That's why I bought it, you know."

He smiles at her and takes the charge from her and quickly plugs up his cellphone before he looks back at the wall with a sigh.

"Any luck?" she asked.

House shook his head. "Not yet."

Foreman and Chase stared at the white board in the office, which was filled with possible meanings to every word that Michael kept repeating. "Well you must have gotten one new phrase out of him, something?" House asked, his voice coming through the speaker that sat in the middle of the table.

"We have been talking to him for hours, maybe he's given up," Chase said solemnly.

House sighed as he paced in front of the wall he'd written on, and glanced over at Allison to see her curled up in one of the chairs asleep. "Are you sure that you've told me everything that you found in his home and his office?" he asked, hoping they'd missed something that would give them the answer.

"No, we're hiding something," Chase said sarcastically.

Foreman shrugged. "Maybe it's not a rhyme or synonym."

Chase sighed, "Maybe House is wrong,"

"I hope that's not the end of the thought," House interrupted as he continued to pace.

"He mentioned stain once before when Chase was giving him the MRI, before we scared him," Foreman stated.

"He did?" Chase questioned.

"It's in your notes."

Chase furrowed his brow. "So, he only talked during an MRI or an LP? Your theory is based on him only talking when he has a needle in his back or,"

"When his wife is not in the room," House finished.


	30. Chapter 30

AN: I am so sorry that this chapter is so short but I couldn't let you guys wait anymore. I know how much this story is loved and it's been a little hard for me to write lately. I'm feeling I'm in a bit of a slump. But I am trying! Do not think that I'm giving up, because I'm not. I hope you guys like this chapter even if it's so short and that I get reviews like I always do. Reviews make me want to keep writing. Enjoy!

~30~

Cuddy groaned when she shut the door to her car, and then grabbed her steaming thermos of coffee from the roof, before she entered into the hospital lobby. Instead of her usual route of going straight to her office, she walked behind the nurse's desk and straight to the elevator. The short ride took her to the floor of Diagnostics medicine, causing her to quickly walk to the conference room that belonged to House's team. She was greeted by Foreman and Chase when she walked inside and put her purse on the large table. "You made me come in this early to lie to a patient's wife?" she questioned tiredly.

Forman grimaced and watched as she took a long drink from her thermos. "Just tell her that something happened with her insurance or something. We want to talk to Michael without his wife being around."

"Please tell me that House came up with this idea?" she asked with a huff.

House stared at the wall full of the lipstick writing that he had made the night before and sighed before he popped a Vicodin. "House, our flight is boarding in twenty minutes. Let's go!" Cameron exclaimed as she tugged on his coat sleeve.

"We can take a later one," House mumbled back, half in thought.

Cameron sighed. "Greg, they can't leave without us. We checked in our bags."

He looked over at her sympathetically as his phone rang, making him quickly dig into his coat pocket to retrieve it. "Are we in?" he asked into the line.

Foreman answered on the other end. "Yeah. We moved the speakerphone into his room."

"Hi, I'm Gregory House. I'm your attending physician. Your wife's not in the room, so start talking," House stated.

"They took my stain!" Mike yelled. "I couldn't tackle the bear. They took my stain."

"Okay," House said, "You can shut up now. Foreman, give him the list again."

Foreman pulled up the whiteboard and began to name off things. "Let us know if something is right. Dirty, soiled, pain, brain…"

"Yes!" Mike yelled.

"Where does that get us?" Chase asked. "Were already paying plenty of attention to his brain, we've done an MRI and a CT scan."

"Are we sure he wasn't reacting to pain? He's been on painkillers," Foreman pointed out.

Mike sighed. "I dissuade the tonal category," he stated.

"Oh please," House groaned. "Mr. sleeping pills, amphetamines, bring me up, bring me down."

The airport announcer suddenly droned over the loudspeaker, "Will passenger Gregory House, please report to Gate seven. Gregory House to Gate seven please."

Cameron sighed. "House, we need to go."

"Not yet," he replied as he stared at the marked up wall as something suddenly crossed his mind. "Ever hear this one? Build a house, each wall has a southern exposure, a big bear comes wandering by, what color is the bear?" he asked into the phone.

Foreman furrowed his brow. "White, It's a polar bear; you built your house in the North Pole," he answered, only for Mike to reach out and grab his arm and shake it.

"Polar," House stated. "Whatever your name is, patient, are you bipolar?" he asked.

Mike nodded at Foreman and chase vigorously and continued to shake Foreman's arm.

"What's he doing?" House asked. "Is he nodding?"

"Yes!" Mike yelled.

"Topamax isn't just off-labeled for weight loss. It's off-labeled for mood disorders. Plenty of bipolar people are manic in the daytime, depressive at night," House explained. "He's been medicating for years with alcohol and sleeping through the bad hours. It explains the danger journalism, explains everything including the kitchen sink. Ok, technically it's kitchen cabinets. He starts a project, and then he stops."

"Except that bipolar disorder doesn't cause seizures," Chase noted.

"It doesn't shut down your kidneys either," House replied, only to get interrupted by a security guard.

"Sir, could I see your ID please?" the man asked.

"I'm on the phone," House answered, but pulled out his wallet and handed it over to him.

"Now, please," the security guard stated, and then took his ID to look at it.

"House?" Chase called out.

The security guard sighed. "Gregory House," The man took House's cellphone, making House sigh and stare down at it.

"I'm a doctor," House told the man, "This is an emergency call."

"I'm sorry sir, you'll have to come with me," the security guard replied as he looked at House's ID, still holding onto his cellphone.

"I'm not going anywhere," House countered, making the security guard scoff.

"You really going to take me on?" the man asked.

House smirked. "I kick, and I bite." Cameron sighed and rolled her eyes before she readjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

"House, do you really have to fight them?" she asked.

The security guys rolled his eyes and handed House his ID and cell phone back. "You're either on that plane, or you're going into custody."

"House are you there?" Chase called out, just as House put the phone back up to his ear.

"Being bipolar makes you take risks, you seek excitement. You make up stories," House stated.

Mike rolled his eyes. "I dine valuate a lever," he groaned in an indignant manner.

"Fine, maybe your stories are legit," House replied. "People would start to wonder. Annoyed politicians, entire governments would be on your ass. You couldn't tell anybody you were bipolar, which was fine. Until you fell in love." He looked over at Cameron and smiled. "You wanted that life and you hear that there's a surgical cure, give the woman you love the life she wants. All you have to do is change. Bilateral cingulotomy, an experimental surgery that some people claim helps mood disorders."

Foreman widened his eyes. "If it's done by gamma knife, there's no trace of cutting. That's the neural scarring we saw on the MRI."

"Which doesn't explain anything. It wasn't in the right area," Chase commented.

"It's not the surgery, it's the secrecy! What causes recurring fever? The Neurological problems, lethargies that you fight with caffeine pills and amphetamines. It wasn't your secret psych disorder; it was your secret daily drug use. It was the secret trip, and your secret surgery in Caracas or Buenos Aires, which by the way didn't work given the state of your kitchen cabinets," House explained.

Unknown to House Cuddy and Mike's wife had walked into Mike's hospital room causing Foreman and Chase to freeze. "House! Shut up," Foreman shushed.

"What?" House asked. "What's going on?"

"Is he right?" Mike's wife asked him, causing Mike to reluctantly nod. "Your doctors... know you better than I do. That man on the speakerphone, he never even met you and _he_ knows you better than I do." Mike crossed his arms over his heart. "You love me?"

Mike nodded again. "Y-yes."

"You just don't trust me," his wife stated and watched as Mike began to cry silent tears.

"Get some blood on a slide," House said. "Do _not_ put it through a computer this time."

"Yep!" Foreman said, and then hung up the phone.

Fore sat in the lab crouched over a microscope as he looked at Mike's blood. The slide could be seen swarming with parasites. "Cerebral malaria."

Chase nodded and moved from leaning against the lab's counter top. "I'll get him started on intravenous quinidine."

Back at the airport Cameron walked beside House, who was being pushed in a wheel chair as they finally boarded their flight. "I'm counting on you to get me off the no fly list," he teased as he looked up at her.

"Oh really now?" she asked, although she reached over and squeezed his shoulder. "What about what you said earlier? Will you tell me more about that?"

House smirked. "We'll see when we get back."

Cameron yawned as they made it back to House's apartment. "That flight took a lot longer than it seemed to be." She dropped her duffle to rest behind the couch then turned to look at House, whom had just shut the door and was now just staring at her. "What?"

House slowly walked up to her and wrapped one arm around her so he could pull her to his chest. "Nothing," he murmured, then captured her lips with his.

When they had to pull away for air, Cameron smiled and pecked his lips, then his scruffy jaw. "You did great with that case. I'm glad you saved him."

He shrugged as his hand travelled just beneath her shirt to caress the small of her back. "I saw something they didn't. It's usually how it works."

Cameron chuckled and kissed him again. "Either way, I'm glad for it."

"Should we celebrate?" House asked, his voice gravelly.

"How would you like to do that?" she asked back in a purr.

House smirked and began to gently lead her towards the bedroom. "Follow me and we'll find out."


End file.
